She asked for it — a Rape Prevention Awareness Program for the Iowa State greek system.

Amy Rode, 21, senior in interior design and active member of Alpha Chi Omega, is initiating a program to educate sororities and fraternities about the facts of sexual assault and rape. Her goal is to find and train facilitators to present 15-20 seminars for next summer’s Greek Orientation Week.

“This is my fourth year in the greek system,” Rode said. “In those four years, I’ve known five girls who were date raped … and I know there’s more out there.

“I was one of them,” she said.

Rode said she was raped on Dec. 2, 1995, as a freshman.

She is working on the project in conjunction with the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center; Brian Tenclinger, greek affairs coordinator; David White, senior in community health education; and Douglas Bywater, senior in marketing and member of Phi Kappa Psi.

“Amy came to me with everything in her head,” Tenclinger said. “Basically, I just helped her to put it on paper.”

Pamela Thomas, director of the Women’s Center, said there is a definite need for this program.

“The main message we want to get out is it could happen to anybody, anywhere, anytime,” Thomas said.

Thomas said that in the past, rape has been combated by teaching women safety.

“Now we’re concentrating on the other half of the equation and taking this out of the context that it’s strictly a ‘women’s issue,'” Thomas said.

Rode said men need to know how to take “no” as an answer, and that there is a fine line between consentual and non-consentual sex.

“We can do everything they tell us to do,” Rode said. “We can do everything right, and it can still happen. Men are the ones who rape, and they are the ones who can stop it.”

Rode said she does not want to attack men or over-generalize.

“Obviously there are great guys out there and my fianc‚ is one of them,” Rode said.

However, she said rape can have a serious impact on the life of the victim.

“The worst case scenario is the girl becomes suicidal,” Rode said.

“I’ve known girls who got into severe personality disorder,” she said. “Many girls who are sexually assaulted lose their self-esteem, self-worth and trust. They feel anger toward everything.”

Rode said sexual assault is any forced sexual activity without the woman’s prior consent.

“Which is basically if she doesn’t say ‘yes,'” Rode said. “If a guy keeps pursuing you, that can be sexual assault. Just because the woman doesn’t fight back kicking and screaming doesn’t mean it’s her fault … a lot don’t fight back if it’s someone they know,” she said.

Rode said some men think it’s normal for a woman to be resistive, that it actually means she “wants it.”

“A lot of men don’t even know that they’ve sexually assaulted a woman … my perpetrator didn’t think he raped me,” Rode said.

“The only [solution] besides locking ourselves in a padded room now is for men to stop rape,” she said.

Tenclinger said the program is a terrific opportunity for students to educate one another.

“We can say, ‘These are the facts, this can happen and this is what we can do,'” he said.

Thomas said she is excited to reach the entire greek system and hopes the program is permanently adopted.

“I don’t want this to be a one-time deal,” Thomas said. “I hope this will be the beginning of a good, working relationship between the Women’s Center and the greek system.”

Tenclinger and Rode are going to write a memo to the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils, urging them to encourage every sorority and fraternity to take part in educating their members.

“We want one male and one female facilitator at each seminar,” Rode said. “We want to present the information in groups, but not so many people that it’s uncomfortable.”

She said she is looking for peer facilitators who can be trained to lead the seminars.

“Hopefully every house will participate,” Rode said. “I want everyone to know that I’m trying to help the greek system and not slander it.”