####Sexual Respect Awareness Week

From Oct. 30 to Nov. 3, the peer support group REACH collaborated with the Health Promotion Office to organize the Sexual Respect Awareness Week. In 2015, the two organizations led the Sexual Assault Awareness Week; however, this year the name was changed because, according to senior Annalisa Galgano, a member of REACH and an organizer of the five-day event, the term respect is more encompassing.

“Respect entails communication, actively asking for consent and making mutual enthusiasm the baseline for any encounter or relationship,” Galgano wrote to The Gazelle.

The program included four different sessions on consent, each one geared toward specific gender identities. NYUAD professors Joanne Savio and Scandar Copti presented documentaries detailing global impacts of sexual harassment and assault. The program also included bystander intervention training and a discussion on cybersexism in collaboration with the Women’s Leadership Network. Nov. 1 was designated as Denim Day, which is typically held in April to raise awareness of victim blaming.

“I think most people wore jeans without knowing it was Denim Day,” wrote Galgano. “This gave us the chance to explain the history of Denim Day and why we incorporated it into Sexual Respect Awareness Week as a way to protest victim-blaming.”

A major driving force behind the program was to raise awareness regarding resources and support available on campus and to create an environment of mutual sexual respect.

“Part of our goal in organizing these events is to create a culture of sexual respect on campus, where people share a common vocabulary around consent,” wrote Galgano.

“We had great discussions during the planned events, and also we had the chance to introduce this topic to a lot of people just through sitting at a table in the dining hall,” wrote Galgano regarding the response from the community.

“It has been great to see people wearing their teal wristbands and putting the consent stickers on their notebooks and water bottles.”

####Consulting Events Across Campus This past week, the Student Interest Group Beyond Borders Consulting held several events, bringing guest speakers from three of the world’s most prestigious consulting firms to NYUAD. The speakers invited to campus were from Ernst & Young, Bain & Company and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Outside of general consulting advice, the topics of this week’s events centered on investment banking and public sector advising, among other things.

Beyond Borders Consulting President Yuhui Dai described the convergence of three speaker events on campus this past week as consequence of scheduling priorities.

"We wanted to bring the best speakers [to campus] so we had to be flexible with their schedules. But more importantly, relevance for the students means a lot to us. Having three perspectives back-to-back a little before applications go in was important for students to pick the right firm/industry, and to do it well," said Dai.

Beyond Borders Consulting endeavors to host biweekly casing workshops in addition to hosting various speakers on campus.

####World Food Day On Oct. 30, an organic market and environmental awareness event in celebration of World Food Day took place outside of the NYUAD’s East Dining Hall. The event was a result of a collaboration between NYUAD’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety, the Student Interest Group Ecoherence and a host of local organic vendors.

Discussing the event itself, EHS Policy Development & Departmental Coordinator Naeema al-Nofeli commented:

“World Food Day [was] to raise awareness in food security and agriculture. During the event it was exciting to see people adopting a plant and make their own hydroponic garden from recycled bottles. I think [it was] a great small initiative to remember and hopefully the message has been delivered.”

The event ran through most of Sunday into the early evening, educating students on environmental consciousness and selling various items, many of which could be purchased with students’ Campus Dirhams.

Discussing the Ecoherence’s contributions to World Food Day, Ecoherence President Fisher Wu said:

“We had a table for people to pledge to give up one thing for November, [like meat], an information board around Urban Gardening and have a demo of a hydroponic garden. We also shared recipes we collected from students through the Culinary SIG from last year and asked people to share their recipes with us.”

####Public Health Think Tank On Nov. 4 and 5, more than 110 participants from 11 universities across the UAE participated in the Public Health Think Tank at NYUAD. The third edition of this conference challenged participants to reduce the prevalence of road traffic incidents among youth in the country.

PHTT is a student-led and interdisciplinary initiative designed to catalyze public health innovation in the UAE; previous conferences have attempted to tackle the tobacco crisis and obesity in adolescents. The event also featured a series of morning talks by public health experts and medical practitioners including Dr. Johnathon Ehsani, Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Sophomore Alvaro Yanez worked alongside other members of the Core Team to organize the two-day event, and spoke of the praise the initiative has received.

"I love PHTT because it responds very well to the UAE's present-day public health issues, and provides a space for students to take an action towards these issues. We have received very positive comments from local and international public health practitioners commending this initiative and students' work; it makes us very happy to see PHTT find its niche here in the UAE," said Yanez.

####Flag Day

NYUAD celebrated the fourth annual Flag Day on Nov. 4 with a gathering in front of the Campus Center. The program began with a speech from Student Government Vice President Maitha Al Memari on the significance of the event. “It always makes me so happy seeing NYUAD come together to celebrate the Emirates and I am proud to be part of making that happen,” said Al Memari. Her speech was followed by remarks from NYUAD Vice Chancellor Al Bloom. Bloom expressed great pride in the contributions from Emirati students, staff and faculty to the university.

After the speeches, the flag was raised to the sound of the UAE’s national anthem as male students from the Abdullah bin Otaiba and Al Asayel schools stood saluting in military uniform. The event rounded off with dance performances from the female students.