Calliope Lissak is a fourth-year student majoring in Comparative American Studies and Classics with a minor in English. On Monday, April 14, Lissak was honored in a campus celebration for the Leadership Award which she received from the National Student Employment Association. Lissak was commended for her work in building the Oberlin Coalition for Sexual Education. She has worked at the student organization Preventing and Responding to Sexual Misconduct, now a part of the Office for Institutional Equity, since the fall of her second year. She also works as an Executive Functioning tutor.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What drew you to PRSM initially?
I was drawn to it because a couple of older Oberlin students whom I was really close with did it. I really admired them.
What was your biggest achievement working at PRSM?
I began the Oberlin Coalition for Sexual Education this year, and that is affiliated with PRSM. My next biggest accomplishment is working at the Sexual Information Center. Then, there is Survivors of Sexual Harm and Allies, which is the support group on campus, and Sexual Harm Information Liaisons, which is the touchstone for sex ed and survivor support within the co-ops. The hope was to create spaces for open lines of communication, but also to think about how we can work together and be stronger together. The external goal was Consent Month. We’ve done more trainings than ever.
What was your biggest challenge with this project?
Navigating people’s perceptions of the Office for Institutional Equity and also making it clear that as a student, I’m privy to no extra information than anybody else. So, getting to know people and then getting them to trust PRSM and see PRSM as just another student organization that’s really excited about engaging the student body.
How long have you been working on this project?
I started conceptualizing it over the summer, and I brought it to my bosses, Suzanne Denneen and Rebecca Mosely. Rebecca Mosely is the director of the OIE, the Title IX coordinator, and the ADA/Section 504 coordinator. Suzanne, the assistant director of the OIE and Title IX prevention coordinator, works under her in the office, doing a lot of the administrative stuff. I brought it to them and they were like, “This sounds great.” Then I just got to work sending emails, and it’s been really beautiful. I’ve spent a lot of time outside of official meetings just getting to know the heads of the different orgs.
What are some of the ways you’ve connected the groups?
The main thing is trying to have a meeting space where we can all come together and talk. One point of contention in the past has been that nationally, April is recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but because PRSM is a proactive educational group, we’ve always called it Consent Month. There’s always been some tension with the other groups because consent versus sexual assault awareness is different. We just had a conversation about why we called it this, and asked if everyone was okay with it. Everybody had the opportunity to speak up, and then we all ended up agreeing to keep the name Consent Month for the sake of the poster. It’s kind of a small example, but I think it’s a good example of the foundational conversations that we’re having that there wasn’t space for before.
What do you hope will happen after you leave?
My internal goal is to have a space at the beginning and end of every semester where everybody from all the groups can be in a space together, whether that’s a discussion or just hanging out, getting the opportunity to reflect on what our messaging is and what our broader goals are for workshops, education, and support on campus. Externally, I hope that Consent Month can become more refined, well-known, and well-attended every year. As we become more established, my hope is that people on campus will continue seeking out meaningful ways to talk about desirability, politics, or consent, in sports or leadership, and all the different things that you can see on the Consent Month calendar.
What did you learn from this experience?
Through the coalition specifically, I’ve learned what it means to wrangle a large group of people into doing things, and getting them to come to meetings and booking spaces. I’ve learned so much this year about what it takes to really put together a whole production, and the do’s and don’ts of leadership. I feel how important it is to leave behind skills and tools to be a good leader for the people under me in the job. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to set an example for the younger coworkers and make pathways for the coalition to continue. I’m always having meetings with people, telling them about next year and helping them get involved. I’ve also written out a whole handbook for how to continue the coalition and how to run it.
