The Interfraternity Council (IFC) voted Monday to designate all IFC fraternity houses "rape-free" zones.

According to the proposal, which passed unanimously, all fraternities will also require members receive training to educate them about sexual assault. Originally, it also required all fraternities to display a sticker on their front door stating that they are rape-free zones; however, it was later amended to make the sticker optional.

Brian Bertges, IFC executive vice president, said he drafted the proposal partly because of sexual assault statistics released last semester.

At January's Penn State Board of Trustees meeting, Vice President of Student Affairs Vicky Triponey said 29 of the 37 sexual assaults reported last semester occurred off campus.

"I was listening to statistics off campus, and a majority of the assaults are more or less happening in the apartments," Bertges said.

He said the "rape-free" stickers were made optional because fraternity members thought it would imply that fraternities were committing sexual assaults.

"That would be admitting something that wasn't going on," he said.

IFC President Andy Hackett said the program will include four or five seminars this year to ensure at least two-thirds of older fraternity members can receive the training.

The training will have to occur by Jan. 1, at which time the program will be extended to 80 percent of active members, Bertges said.

"Even though it's going to start out as only 66 percent of members in training, after time, that should reach 100 percent," Hackett said.

The idea for the proposal came after representatives from the IFC, the Multicultural Greek Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council met Jan. 18 for a sexual assault seminar sponsored by the Center for Women Students and the IFC. The education program will break down each aspect of sexual assault.

"We work with the older fraternity members to give them the information they need, and then they do the training for the younger members," Peggy Lorah, Center for Women Students director, said. "Fraternity members tend to learn the information better when it comes from other fraternity members."

At the conference, Hackett expressed what he hoped to cover in the program.

"We would like to cover a lot of what was discussed today: what exactly consent is, what sexual assault is, what rape is and guidelines for how to prevent that from happening within our chapters," Hackett said. "We want them to know that we are not going to stand for it."

Alvin Tan (senior-computer science and mathematics), a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, said he does not think the proposal is necessary yet, but said the training program is a good idea.

"I think there should be a program like that, and I think you should have to attend it," he said. "We've heard about rape a lot, but we haven't had many programs to teach us about it.

Dean Keshavarz, president of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, 328 E. Fairmount Ave., said he would be "proud" to implement the program.

"It would pretty much help the community know we're out here for them," he said. "We're not here just partying and stuff like that; we are here for members of the community."

He added he would not have a problem posting the sticker on Alpha Sigma Phi's door.

"There's never been a rape at my house, and I'll be more than happy to put that sticker on my door," he said. "We'll also be given certificates to prove we've gone through training. I'd be more honored to put that certificate up there to say we've had that training and we know how to help."