Olivia Fendrich / The Mossy Log
The sexual HEALTH and consent (SHAC) program has been an influential resource at Lewis & Clark for years. Led by Director of Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) Michelle Callahan and Graduate Assistants Elena Perrine and Grant Stanaway, SHAC educates students on topics including consent, sexual violence prevention, Title IX reporting, substance abuse prevention, STIs, contraceptive options, pleasure, body image and stress management.
However, Callahan will be leaving LC at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year, and the SHAC program will be put on a temporary pause for the following academic year.
“With the leadership transition happening over the summer, I want to ensure my successor is set up for success,” Callahan said via email. “For that reason, I didn’t feel comfortable making decisions about the program that they would be left to manage.”
Callahan feels that balancing the responsibilities of HPW Director with leading the SHAC program is a lot for any new employee to dive into.
“I realize that for my successor it would be a huge strain to be starting a new role while navigating all the details of this program and coordinating a 20+ hour training schedule. Because this program is incredibly important, we want to ensure it receives the time, energy, and intentionality it deserves. Taking a brief pause underscores this commitment,” Callahan said.
This intensive training is for the student SHAC facilitators who lead discussions during New Student Orientation (NSO). During NSO, facilitators give informational presentations to groups of new students and lead them in discussion. SHAC facilitator Fellow Moratti ’26 described how essential these sessions are, considering the different sex-education backgrounds from which students come to LC.
“I think the SHAC program is especially important at Lewis & Clark because we boast having a lot of out-of-state and international students, who may have had varying qualities of sex ed from their high schools and middle schools before coming here,” Moratti said.
According to SHAC facilitator Lila Ward ’25, no matter the quality of one’s sex education, one can always learn more.
“Even if people think they are informed or an ‘expert’ at all things sexual, that simply doesn’t exist,” Ward said via email.
Fellow SHAC facilitator Lila Frieden ’27 stated that having the opportunity to ask any questions to a trained peer without judgment can be hugely influential for many new students.
“I had people come to me and ask some really personal questions, telling the events that have happened to them before, and it’s really emotional, but it gives me a lot of pleasure to be able to give them some sort of support or lead them to people that can help them,” Frieden said.
Genavieve Harrison ’27, another facilitator, spoke to the importance of providing these resources at the outset of one’s college experience.
“Statistically, the first (six) weeks of freshman year is when most sexual violence occurs on a college campus,” Harrison said via email, “because often they just don’t know enough about the people or places on campus to know what to avoid and lack a steady support system.”
Callahan noted that one of the ways she transformed the SHAC program was by expanding it outside of NSO into the fall semester through workshops and tabling events.
“NSO has a lot going on, and for some first-year students the first round of SHAC information can just get lost in the shuffle,” Callahan said. “By extending the program through the fall semester, it allows for new and returning students to become re-familiar with this content at a time when it might be more applicable to them.”
Fall opportunities include tabling and workshops. SHAC facilitator Leilani Meshoulam Fabian ’27 detailed that SHAC also provides key physical resources for students.
“SHAC (tries) to keep people as healthy as possible in as many aspects as they can,” Meshoulam Fabian said. “They provided contraceptives, they had a little kit for showering … They were one of the reasons why you have subsidized STI testing for some of the months.”
Moratti drew attention to other programs’ ends or pauses that render the presence of SHAC even more important.
“Especially with the phasing-out of the Sexual Assault Peer Advocate Program, the Title IX interim year … and Feminist Student Union’s (along with all other clubs) funding cuts,” Moratti said, “this program is incredibly important.”
He also noted that the new federal administration’s attacks on reproductive health render sex and consent education programs all the more essential.
Fortunately, SHAC will be resuming after the year-long hiatus. Many students have hopes for how the program will continue to grow in future years.
“I would like these conversations … to be more widespread around campus,” Ward said. “Making it a part of our culture on campus could really shift how we talk about hard things and interact with one another in a positive way.”
In her time at LC, Callahan has worked hard to expand the scope of SHAC to examine how sex education is a key part of sexual violence prevention.
“Sexual health education and sexual violence prevention should both work to have us critically think about our desires and how we communicate, be in relationship with each other when engaging in sexual activities to ensure that the activities are safe and pleasurable for all,” Callahan said. “Colleges can and should be at the forefront of these efforts, especially when the news cycle or social media can give contradictory, negative or even hurtful messages about sex, sexuality and sexual health.”
Callahan’s absence will be felt by many at LC.
“Michelle is so conscious of herself and other people and how to help people,” Meshoulam Fabian said. “She’s honestly the heart of the program.”
She will be leaving big shoes to fill at HPW, but has built a foundation that will impact LC’s community long after her departure.
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