In September, President Obama launched the "It's On Us" campaign to end sexual assault on college campuses. | Coutresy of Nick Knupffer/Creative Commons
A White House representative will kick off a week of education around sexual violence prevention on campus, in conjunction with the national “It’s On Us” Public Awareness Campaign to Help Prevent Campus Sexual Assault.
Penn’s “It’s On Us: Week of Action” is an effort co-sponsored by Penn Democrats, Lambda Alliance, Penn Association for Gender Equity and Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault.
“This year we decided [our sponsored event] would be around women’s issues and sexual assault,” Vice President of Penn Dems and College junior Max Levy said, “especially after the campus climate survey.”
The Association of American Universities’ Campus Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct, often referred to as the campus climate survey, was conducted at 27 schools and surveyed over 150,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional student respondents.
The AAU survey conducted at Penn found that almost a third of Penn female undergraduates say they have been sexually assaulted by their senior years.
Penn Dems had the idea to do an event about sexual assault awareness and decided to collaborate with the many groups that also speak against sexual assault on campus. Levy said the group wanted to “amplify as many voices as possible.”
The weeklong event will feature various high-profile speakers and events that will engage the community and hopefully “make people feel more comfortable talking about sexual assault in whatever group they’re in,” Levy said.
Below is information on the events this week, open to all in the Penn community.
Monday:
Who: Kyle Lierman, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement
Where: LGBT Center
When: 7 p.m.
What: Lierman, the leader of the administration’s “It’s On Us” campaign to end campus sexual assault will be talking about the White House initiative and the national movement.
Tuesday:
Who: Maggie Gross, Vice President of External Affairs for Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Where: 350 Steinberg-Dietrich Hall
When: 7:30 p.m.
What: Gross will speak about the services Planned Parenthood supplies, as well as the role of women’s reproductive health in the 2016 election.
Wednesday:
Who: All are welcome to participate
Where: Outside of Huntsman Hall
When: 9 p.m.
What: Students are encouraged to use chalk on Locust Walk to spread awareness of sexual assault on campus.
Friday:
Who: Penn Anti-Violence Educators
Where: Huntsman Hall G88
When: 4 p.m.
What: PAVE will be doing bystander training for the Penn Dems Deputy board as well as any other interested members of the Penn community with a focus on the power of bystander training.
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