University Of Utah “It’s On Us” Campaign Takes Off
The “It’s On Us” campaign has now taken off at the University of Utah. The campaign is an effort to protect victims and prevent sexual assault on college campuses across the nation. It is estimated that one of five women and one in 16 men will experience some sort of sexual assault during their college experience.
On January 24th, the University’s Student Wellness center provided a half-day training on bystander awareness to student leaders. Since the training, student leaders have been campaigning in front of the Marriott Library on library plaza, encouraging students to sign the pledge against sexual assault. Once the pledge has been signed students receive a red, white and black University of Utah “It’s On Us” t-shirt.
ASUU chose to team up with the “It’s On Us” campaign for a few different reasons. The first was back during the presidential debate on campus when a student stood up asking what efforts would be made to prevent sexual assault on campus after there had been several incidents last year.
The second was after Justin Spangler, University of Utah student body president, attended the Pack-12 Summit. The student body presidents from each university in the Pac-12 joined together and decided to focus their initiative on sexual assault. “We wanted to create awareness and bring about a dialogue on these hard topics,” said Spangler. “We felt like creating a safe spot on campus is where we should start and physical safety is the highest priority.”
Spangler said the only real indicator of knowing whether or not this campaign is affecting students is if the sexual assault reports go up. However, Spangler mentioned that even after a week of campaigning, he has heard more students discussing the topic comfortably and ASUU has received positive feedback.
As to whether or not this campaign will become and annual initiative will be up to next year’s student body officers. Spangler hopes that they decide to continue the efforts to campaign.
On September 19th, 2014 President Obama joined forces with the “It’s On Us” campaign. When partaking in the “It’s On Us” campaign and signing the pledge, you pledge to do the following:
To RECOGNIZE that non-consensual sex is sexual assault.
To IDENTIFY situations in which sexual assault may occur.
To INTERVENE in situations where consent has not or cannot be given.
To CREATE an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported.
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To read more about the campaign or take the pledge please visit http://itsonus.org.
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