It takes a community to end violence against women and the enabling attitudes around it.

That was a major part of the message delivered Thursday during a noon-hour presentation, focused on violence against women at post-secondary schools in the country. It was put on by the seven students in the men and masculinity class at Yukon College.

After taking in the presentation, school officials are planning to change how incidents of sexual assault are tracked. They’re also looking at ways to use some suggestions in planning for the next school year.

As college spokesman Michael Vernon explained after the presentation, the school is implementing a new incident reporting system for better tracking of all types of safety and security incidents, ranging from someone slipping on ice in the parking lot to violence.

This morning, he said that after the presentation, Brian Bonia, director of human resources and the senior manager on the occupational health and safety committee, informed the class that categories for tracking incidents in the software will be broken into specifics of harassment, sexual harassment and rape, rather than the current category of assault that all would have fallen into.

Training and implementation of the new software are expected to roll out before the 2015/2016 school year.

The students’ presentation will also be used in the planning of September’s orientation activities and “impact how Yukon College foregrounds a culture of safety, security and respect on campus for new and returning students as we go forward,” Vernon said in an email.

Student Jacob Guthrie argued mandatory awareness lectures on rape culture and the fact that it’s not accepted at institutions of higher learning need to happen at post-secondary schools.

As it was pointed out, students attending colleges and universities take part in a number of presentations during their first week or so of classes that emphasize conduct and expectations of students, such as the consequences for plagiarism.

There is often nothing said during the presentations about rape culture or assault, Guthrie pointed out.

His was one of many suggestions the students put forward from the project that began with a classroom discussion on a number of cases across the country happening at post-secondary schools.

Among the more high-profile cases, for example, are the suspensions of 13 dentistry students from Dalhousie University over offensive posts published on the 2015 DDS Facebook page the students were part of.

Previous screenshots from the group’s page, for example, showed some students joking about using chloroform to drug women, among other offensive posts.

Interest in the overall topic was so high in his classroom that class instructor Shawkat Shareef decided to focus on it and turn it into a project that could then make its way out of the class and into other parts of the college and wider community.

As Shareef and the student presenters pointed out at the beginning of Thursday’s presentation, while there are cases of violence against men that happen and may be reported, the numbers are so low, they don’t make it into the statistics. Thus, the focus is on women.

The students noted the statistics that show most women will experience violence at some point in their life and 80 per cent of those will know the perpetrator.

The students then went on to talk “rape culture”, noting the term describes the victim-blaming that often happens around rape and sexualized violence.

Instead of teaching not to rape, society focuses on a message of “Don’t get raped,” thus putting blame on the victim, student Alanna Sajn told the crowd of about 30 people.

Just because a woman wears a short skirt doesn’t mean she’s “asking for it,” Sajn said.

Pointing to a slide showing five male students at Brock University in Ontario holding signs to drivers that read “Honk if you’re dropping your daughter off,” the students noted this type of action is too often the case.

And while many people may not take part in such actions, they also don’t act to stop it, Shareef said.

“We don’t do anything about these people,” he said.

The students also pointed out that there’s nothing requiring Canadian post-secondary institutions to track the number of sexual assaults reported to them.

The students then went on to point to problems in the media, with too many shows turning “women’s no’s into yes” and objectifying women.

The students then brought forward a long list of suggestions that would move society from rape culture to a culture of consent.

“It begins with children,” student Cassidy Werner said, arguing attitudes begin in how children are brought up.

Sex education in school could go a long way in creating that culture of consent as well, it was argued.

There should also be safe places for women to talk and discuss the issue; though both men and women need to work together to end the rape culture.

“We need to stop victim-blaming,” Werner said.

When things like “she was drunk” or “her dress was too short” are said, she added, it not only puts blame on the victim but takes the focus away from the real issue of rape.

“Real men take no for an answer,” Werner said.

Students also argued for the need for greater consequences for offenders through arm’s-length tribunals that would deal with complaints while continuing to protect the victim, immediate suspension for those accused of assault or rape and others.

Meanwhile, Shareef also highlighted the economic and capital loss that can result. In some cases, students may choose to drop out of post-secondary school, which results in a loss of earning powers and skills.

While the presentation highlighted a number of problems, he also noted he has hope that things are changing as the issue comes to the forefront.

The students were quick to point out that college staff were more than welcoming when they proposed the noon-hour event. They were happy to see college officials attend the discussion as well and speak with them about the tracking system for complaints.

Outside the school, the presentation is also being welcomed.

Students planned to bring it to the Victoria Faulkner Women’s Centre today, with further plans for Vanier Catholic Secondary School in a couple of weeks.

Discussions are underway to bring it to other high schools as well.

It’s a topic many people are also starting to speak out on across the country and around the world.

After the presentation, Vernon said the college ensures students know that confidential counselling services are available through the school.

All students and staff are bound by a code of ethics. The school also has a harassment policy and student rights and responsibilities policy in place.

Vernon noted the college will be looking at the presentation and where improvements can be made (such as to the incident tracking system).

He added there could be some human rights or legal issues to be considered with some of the ideas that came forward, such as immediate suspension or expulsion for those facing accusations they have not been found guilty of.