Riverdale’s First-Ever Consent Summit Inspires Conversation about a New Approach
The topic of ‘consent’ is crucial within the Riverdale community, and this year, students and faculty took it one step further by organizing Riverdale’s first-ever consent summit.
On April 26th, 40 students and faculty arrived on campus at 9 am, eager to learn about what consent means in different contexts. The summit consisted of four rotating, student-led workshops that partnered with the school’s various clubs and affinity groups that included Using Consent to Combat Environmental Justice and The Psychology of Sexual Trauma, cohort groups, and a keynote speaker.
Ms. Allison Finder, an Upper School counselor and consent educator at Riverdale, was the faculty advisor for the summit. “Oliver Mirsepahi, a senior, came to me two years ago saying he wanted to do a consent summit at Riverdale,” she said. “He moved the ball forward, and then we brought in Maddy Wisse, the founder of the Consent Culture Student Action Committee (CCSAC). The three of us planned everything along with the help of twenty other students.”
The summit’s success was evident in the big turnout that it drew, thanks to months of hard work and dedication leading up to it from students who were responsible for figuring out transportation for participants to designing event posters.
“This is my sixth year at Riverdale, and I’ve been wanting to bring this to life since I came here, but I really needed dedicated students who wanted to bring it to life,” said Ms. Finder.” This year, we solidified a date and got funding through a grant.”
A range of topics regarding consent were covered during the summit, such as social consent and environmental consent. However, there was significant emphasis on another aspect of it -- sexual consent. Participants had an opportunity to listen to a victim’s advocate and guest speaker, Alex Prout. Prout, a nationally recognized victims’ advocate, co-founded “I Have The Right To,” a non-profit organization formed to educate students and communities about sexual violence. He co-founded the organization with his wife, Susan, after their teenage daughter was sexually assaulted.
This year’s consent summit was modeled on the Georgetown Day School (GDS) annual consent summit, which hosts numerous schools, and select Riverdale students have an opportunity to attend.
Emma Brumberger, an 11th grader, who is a member of the CCSAC and attended the consent summit, was moved by the eye-opening workshops and discussions, “I would 100% go again, and I think Riverdale should host annual summits and invite other schools, the way the GDS summit does. It would make the experience even more powerful and widespread,” said Brumberger.
The four workshops that the summit offered were entirely student-led to promote vulnerability and open discussions among participants.
This strategy contrasts with Riverdale’s academic approach to having faculty members teach and lecture students about sexual health and consent. But, by having students lead the discussions during the summit, it resulted in more involvement among participants.
“What I have seen is that things are just so much more meaningful when they come from somebody that students can relate to, such as a peer,” Ms. Finder said. “It’s classic that an adult would lecture you about consent or substance use, and it’s easier to write off that message. These things impact students outside of school as well. In order for that culture to change, it can’t come from an adult.”
Catelyn So, an 11th grader who attended and led a workshop during the summit, believes that Riverdale can benefit from including student voices in the health curriculum to better resonate with students. “ I think Riverdale does not teach consent in a way students really understand or relate to. I feel like the way it is taught is more of a teacher lecturing students about all the things they shouldn’t do, like don’t consume alcohol or do drugs, but in reality, students aren’t being well prepared for the inevitable situation where people are intoxicated,” said So. “I think it would be really great if students could talk to teachers and give them feedback on the curriculum, especially for Health.”
So suggests that having upperclassmen students speak honestly about their experiences to underclassmen could result in a potential shift in consent culture at Riverdale: “If I were a freshman and I got the details about homecoming parties [outside of school] from a Junior or a Senior in a non-judgmental discussion group where things were very transparent, I would feel a lot more comfortable going to, for example, a homecoming with a sports team and knowing what to expect. So, I think that could help a lot and really get rid of the bad situations students get themselves into because they aren’t prepared for the reality of these events.”
It’s increasingly important to introduce an understanding and acceptance of consent culture within a school setting. In that regard, Riverdale’s first consent summit is a big step forward in providing necessary support to help promote healthy, safe, and meaningful relationships among its student body and environment.
