Texas Tech students team up with bars to prevent sexual assault

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The Student Government Association at Texas Tech is teaming up with bars to combat sexual assault for its “Safe Night Out” initiative.

“Because of the ties to alcohol and sexual assault, we wanted to go into these spaces and create safer environments in order to change the culture around sexual assault,” Student Body President Emeritus Hunter Heck said.

Two Docs Brewing Co. is the first bar to team up with SGA and the Risk Intervention and Safety Education office (RISE) for the program.

Students trained by RISE will provide free training for bar staff on how to identify and stop instances of sexual assault.

“I don’t see any downside to this. It’s just a great way to kind of learn some areas that maybe we weren’t aware of and just find more resources to make people feel more comfortable and safe. And at the end of the day that’s an easy choice to make as a bar owner,” managing partner, Eric Washington said.

“This is a free training. This is an important issue and every bar should desire for their space to be safer and and a space in which students know that their bar staff are looking out for them,” Heck said

SGA wants to hang posters inside the bars and provide wristbands with a QR code students can scan to locate Texas Tech resources.

“It’s just there to expand and open, you know, bouncers and bar owners and even students’ consciousness towards these issues,” Student Body President Faisal Al-Hmoud said.

It also plans to provide SGA-branded charging stations.

“Surprisingly, there’s a connection between students’ phones dying and them having a ride home from a stranger,” Heck said.

Bars in the program will receive a certificate, so students will know which bars were trained and when.

“I mean, ultimately the goal is to have, if we can, every single bar in Lubbock certified by the university,” Al-Hmoud said.

“And I think it’d be great for all of us to get together and do our part to kind of do what we can to make people feel safe and comfortable,” Washington said.

SGA has been in contact with a few other bars about the initiative but is looking for more.

Bar owners interested in the program can reach out to SGA through its social media accounts.