Slippery Rock University is one of many organizations participating in the It’s On Us campaign, which was created by the Obama administration to combat sexual assault.
Jodi Solito, director of the Women’s Center and Pride Center, said the campaign is social media driven and is trying to get the number of pledges across the nation to increase.
“The campaign is saying that it’s up to each and every one of us to challenge some of the myths that are out there about sexual violence and step up,” Solito said.
Students go online to sign the pledge and the campaign is done twice a year at Slippery Rock University and has a lot to do with student involvement.
“It’s sort of a grassrootsy kind of thing,” Solito said. “You may sign the pledge and then the people that follow you would see that.”
Various organizations were involved with the campaign on campus in the past and so far it has accumulated around 450 pledges, Solito said.
The University partnered with Victim Outreach Intervention Center (VOICe) to have an event on the seventh of April this year, which will consist of an informational session in the quad regarding general sexual violence and the different offices and programs on campus that can assist students if they’re victims of sexual violence.
Solito said that another event was held earlier in the year which consisted of a screening of the movie “The Hunting Ground,” which is about campus sexual violence. The film was screened and then a conversation followed,where the audience was told that they could sign the It’s On Us pledge.
“I think this campaign helps bring the issue to the foreground,” Solito said. “What this does is get people to say let’s talk about it and maybe through talking about it we can break it apart and realize where some of the concerns might be and then address those concerns.”
