Panel discussion lets students express their voices

Brendan Harris said it’s hard for National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities to host events, but when they do, they find it important to discuss heavy topics like love, sex and sexual harassment.
“It is a struggle to organize NPHC events. We like to take our moment in the light to bring awareness to campus not only about STDs and rape but also about who we are in general,” said Harris, the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. president.
To help combat this, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. hosted the “Real Talk Panel” on Tuesday.
The panel consisted of six people: Dominique Penton, Ordecia Beene, Jasmin Belton, Brendan Harris, Jalen Russ and Avion Lindsey.
The panel answered questions about what they look for in bed, what is considered cheating and most importantly, what is defined as consent.
When addressing the question of what is considered cheating, senior medical laboratory science major Belton said, “All cheating is bad, but emotional cheating is the worse. If you fall in love with two people, you should leave the first because you never truly loved them in the first place.”
Five out of the six members on the panel agreed with Belton on this topic as they voiced their opinion that emotional cheating is indeed worse.
Anywhere from confiding their innermost thoughts or going out for a meal with another man or woman, the panel defined emotional cheating as filling the “void” with someone else or something other than their partner.
The panel continued to talk about other humoring topics like going through their partner’s phone or how long is too long when it comes to waiting to “do the dirty.”
However, it was the more serious key notes of the night that intrigued spectator Damascus Jacobs who said consent is a controversial topic.
“What people fail to understand is that no means no. What a person wears, does not mean they are looking for sex. Just because they are being friendly that does not mean they are flirting,” Jacobs said.
This event