Ball State's Campus Programs for National Sexual Assault Awareness Month

By Rachel Fagan on April 1, 2014

Today is the start of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month or SAAM. The month of April was declared National Sexual Assault Awareness month in 2001 after continues efforts from the Resource Sharing Project or RSP and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center or NSVRC.

The NSVRC’s goal and the goal of SAAM are to raise public awareness and educate individuals about sexual violence and prevention methods through specific campaign activities and resources each year.

The 2014 campaign is focused around healthy sexuality and young people. SAAM is currently offering tools and resources that promote healthy relationships and adolescent sexuality health. Resources that are provided are aimed at encourage engagement from both young people and adults.

They utilize social media to help spread the word and create connections with all individuals involved. They have created a Social media toolkit to post ideas and to promote their message, along with a blog to post their own campaign updates and give people the chance to comment and share.

SAAM has also created campaigns through Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Facebook. The hastag “#TweetAboutItTuesday” and “#saam” were created for twitter. They are also encouraging participants to share different pictures and videos relating to sexual violence prevention and education every day of April. SAAM has also made downloadable pictures of their logo, slogan and ribbon for people to show their support by reposting the images on their personal social media pages.

Ball State University’s Counseling Center has created a team in effort to educate and raise awareness on the college campus. The Sexual Threats Oppression Prevention or STOP team will be holding a series of programs throughout the month for the campus community.

The first of five programs is the Clothesline Project. Students will have the opportunity to display a t-shirt on the main street of campus with their personal message relating to sexual assault. This is an effort to affirm and support victims and survivors of sexual assault.  T-shirts can be made and displayed throughout the entire month.

The Stand up! Program will be held Tuesday, April 8 at 6 p.m. and Friday April 11 at 2 p.m. in the Student Center Multipurpose room. This is an educational forum on how to effectively respond to someone in need of help.

A panel of experts in the field of sexual assault prevention will gather Wednesday, April 16 at 7 p.m. in the Teacher’s College, room 120 as part of the Putting the ‘Sensual’ Back in ‘Consensual’ program. The panel will be available to answer questions regarding sexual assault prevention.

Tuesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. STOP will hold their Team Talk Show in the Student Center Room 310. This program will include an illustration of a real-life same-sex sexual assault situation. It will also include audience participation.

Throughout these programs buttons will be given away and traded in as one entry for a chance to win one of two $25 gift certificates. Students will be able to trade their buttons in at the final Wrap-up Party event. This will be help on Friday, April 25 at 7 p.m. at The Cup, located in the village. Music will be performed and poetry and published stories from survivors will be read.

Students can find more resources through www.nsvrc.org and the Ball State Counseling center.

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