After marching through Mill Street and up Court Street, FRC will host speakers on sexual assault on College Green.
F--kRapeCulture expects more than a hundred participants to attend its third annual Homecoming March and Rally on Friday at 5 p.m.
The group will gather at the bottom of Jefferson Hill on East Green, and it will march from there to Mill Street and Court Street before ending on College Green.
Although F--kRapeCulture has applied for a parade permit to march the city streets, the group has not been able to obtain one, according to Alyssa Ensminger, F--kRapeCulture member.
Ensminger said the city told F--kRapeCulture it needs to pay $1,000 for liability insurance, but the group doesn't have that much money and it has never had to pay the fee before.
The Post was unable to confirm the insurance fee as of press time.
The route of the march holds some significance, Ensminger said.
“Those are, I think, two streets that are particular hotspots for perpetuation of the things we’ll be speaking about and rape culture in general,” Ensminger, a junior studying biological sciences, said. “We think it’s important to be visible on those parts of campus.”
When the march reaches College Green, several speakers will spend about half an hour giving remarks on various aspects of rape culture and sexual assault.
“We’re focusing on the experiences of students on campus as survivors, and also trying to have a very intersectional approach,” Hannah Koerner, another F--kRapeCulture member, said. “(We’re) having speakers talk about the intersections of race and sexual harassment, of gender and sexual harassment, queerness and sexual harassment and then expanding that view outside of our immediate community.”
Koerner, a junior studying English, said the event will include a speaker who works with People’s Justice League, a group aiming to end power-based personal violence and structural oppression in Southeast Ohio, according to the league's website. Ensminger said bringing in speakers from outside of OU extends the conversation on sexual assault and rape culture out of the campus area.
On the event’s Facebook page as of press time, more than 100 people said they are attending.
“The last two years there’s been a little over a hundred, I think,” Ensminger said. “I think we’d be really happy to get those numbers again.”
The march, which the group has been planning for about a month, was F--kRapeCulture's most immediate concern coming into the academic year. Ensminger said she’s excited for alumni who may be in town to participate.
“There are quite a few alumni coming back over the next few days, so (there will be) a lot of people that either were responsible for forming FRC or who were in a very active role while they were here in Athens,” Ensminger said. “They can kind of see where all their work has led.”
Caitlin Knisley, a freshman studying biological sciences, said she thinks it's a good idea having the march on Homecoming Weekend.
"There will be so many people here for them to raise awareness," Knisely said. "Lots of people will be out and see them on campus."
"We have requested and applied for a permit in the exact same fashion that we have in previous years, for Take Back The Night and other FRC events," Ensminger said. "They have been kind of throwing us through the loop, telling us we need liability insurance, which costs over $1,000."
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FRC will march whether they have a permit or not, Ensminger said.
Everyone is welcome, Koerner said, even those not involved in F--kRapeCulture.
“Come dressed however you'd like because no matter what we wear, what we do, what we say, or how we act — we are NOT asking for it,” the event’s Facebook page reads.
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