After a one-day postponement due to inclement weather, NC State will begin its participation in the White House’s National Week of Action for the It’s On Us campaign today with an awareness event at Wolf Plaza.
The White House launched the national campaign in September as an educational campaign attempting to raise awareness of and prevent sexual assault on college campuses.
Carson Shepherd, the Student Government director of University Affairs and a junior studying political science, said the week of action is the active part of the campaign for the fall semester.
“This week we’re really trying to reach out to the student body,” Shepherd said.
NC State’s Student Government launched an “It’s On Us” social media campaign in September and released a PSA video last month. This Week of Action is the next step in the campaign and is geared toward engaging with students with in-person information booths and educational workshops, according to Shepherd.
“It’s a great campaign, and everyone really needs to be educated on it,” Shepherd said. “We are trying to make ourselves available for information and education.”
The first event of the week will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Wolf Plaza today. Student Government will make information about sexual assault awareness and prevention from the Women’s Center and the Counseling Center available for students who visit the table.
At the table, there will also be computers, so students can take the official “It’s On Us” pledge online, a banner for students to sign in support of the campaign and a photo booth with white boards so students can assert why they think ending sexual assault is “on us.”
The event will also take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Brickyard on Wednesday and at the same time at The Oval on Thursday.
In addition to the public informational displays, The Movement Peer Educators will be hosting a sexual violence prevention workshop series.
The first workshop, Sexual Violence 101, will be held tonight at 6 p.m. in 147 Harrelson Hall. On Wednesday at 6 p.m., The Movement Peer Educators will hold a Bystander Behaviors workshop in the same location.
On Monday, Student Government painted the Free Expression Tunnel with the words “It’s On Us.”
“People walk by the tunnel all the time, so they’ll see ‘It’s On Us’ and it’ll spark their interest and they will look it up,” Shepherd said.
One of the goals of the Week of Action is to get as many students to learn about the campaign as possible, not just people in the groups most heavily involved with it, such as Student Government, IRC and Greek Life, Shepherd said.
“This campaign is really important on our campus and on every campus,” Shepherd said. “Across America, sexual assault has become a real problem. It’s violence against women. It’s violence against men. It’s violence against every community.”
Shepherd said sexual assault doesn’t discriminate based on race, sex or gender and can affect anyone, which is being emphasized through the Week of Action.
“It’s not just bringing up one group together to have a conversation about sexual assault or bystander intervention,” Shepherd said. “It’s very inclusive of everyone that is interested in joining the conversation.”
When President Barack Obama announced the campaign in September, he highlighted the danger of the bystander effect and encouraged people to speak up when they see potential red flags regarding sexual assault and violence.
“An estimated one in five women has been sexually assaulted during her college years,” Obama said. “Of those assaults, only 12 percent are reported, and of those reported assaults, only a fraction of the offenders are punished.”
One of the tips the campaign gave to people who made a commitment to the campaign was to “trust your gut” and to speak up when a situation seems potentially harmful.
