Sexual Assault Prevention week began Monday as a collaboration between Temple’s It’s On Us chapter, Temple Student Government, and Student Activists Against Sexual Assault.
The week will feature five events related to sexual assault education.
On Tuesday, Title IX will host a workshop from 5-7 p.m. in Tuttleman Learning Center room 103. During this workshop, President of Temple’s It’s On Us campaign Shira Freiman will talk about the basics of Title IX, including resources the office provides and the rights the article supplies.
Wednesday, a sexual assault prevention panel will be hosted in the Kiva Auditorium in Ritter Annex from 5-6 p.m. Representatives from SAASA, Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault, It’s On Us, and TSG will speak. Shawn Aleong, a disability rights activist and an international student who is yet to be determined will speak about how experiences differ for international students and students who have disabilities. The panel will take questions from attendees.
On Thursday, there will be a consent workshop in the Student Center room 200C from 4-5:30 p.m. TSG’s Vice President of Services Trent Reardon, Freiman, and Liz Zadnik, assistant director of the Wellness Resource Center will speak about the importance and rules of consent.
“Consent is something that everyone should know and understand,” said Hailey McCormack, communications director for TSG. “Teaching people how important consent is will hopefully create a healthier environment to talk about sexual assault.”
“Writing Off Sexual Violence,” will take place Friday at 13th and Montgomery streets from 12-3 p.m. At this event students will get the opportunity to write encouraging messages to survivors of sexual assault. The notes will be saved and hung up in the formation of a Temple “T” for students to see.
“We want it to show that Temple can come together to support survivors and address the issue of sexual assault,” McCormack added.
The week ends with a halftime speech from Reardon and Freiman at Saturday’s football game.
“The football game is a place where we can reach as many Temple University students as possible,” McCormack added. “It gives us an opportunity to spread the word of how important having these conversations can be and get people talking.”
This is the second Sexual Assault Prevention Week, beginning as an annual initiative by the 2017-18 TSG administration.
Since the inaugural Sexual Assault Prevention Week, sexual assault connected to Temple has been highly publicized between the conviction of Bill Cosby for sexually assaulting former Temple employee Andrea Constand and the arrest of the president of Temple’s chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi on charges of sexual assault and rape.
“Now more than ever it’s important that we continue this week because instances of sexual assault keep happening,” McCormack said. “By raising awareness people can start integrating the information we’re giving them into different parts of their lives and spreading it to others.”
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