Students, faculty and Athens residents joined together yesterday evening to raise awareness and speak out against sexual assault at the first Ohio University United Against Sexual Assault march.
Around 45 individuals marched from West Portico through East, South and West greens. The student organization POWER and the Health Education and Wellness Department sponsored the event.
Before the march, individuals gathered at West Portico to hear speakers elaborate on the issue of sexual assault. POWER members Lizz Warren and Andrew Razzano focused on the issue of consent and the need for students to understand that anyone, no matter the individual's gender or sexual orientation, could be a victim of sexual assault.
Students
community members the elderly and even children unfortunately are affected (by sexual assault) said march organizer Sue Ellen Hughes, assistant director of the Health Education and Wellness Department.
Marchers held signs that read, Stop violence against women
Sexual assault is not just rape and Working together to stop sexual assault.
Participants shouted throughout the march eliciting positive responses from motorists and passing pedestrians. Many honked and waved as marchers crossed the streets.
Yes means yes
no means no; sexual assault has to go! marchers chanted as they trekked across Athens and Ohio University.
Kristen Jensen, Student Senate president and a former member of POWER, said four cases of sexual assault have been reported this quarter. She also said Student Senate passed a resolution last spring, making this march an annual event.
We made this march in the fall instead of in the spring so that we could get the new students aware of this issue
Jensen said.
Hughes emphasized in her speech that this march was inclusive of both men and women and that all were welcome to participate, regardless of the individual's socioeconomic status or ethnic background.
We may be small in number this year
but next year we will have more and the next year we will have more
said Char Kopchick, director of the Health Education and Wellness Department. We will build and hopefully we will grow and be a heard presence on campus.
Spurred by a sexual assault awareness event last year, more than a dozen members of the Delta Zeta sorority marched.
We chose to come out here because this is something very important to our chapter
said Erin Scott, OU sophomore and risk manager for the Delta Zeta sorority.
Many, including POWER member Michael McGniff, were positive about the march and the visibility that was created from organizing and marching.
Hopefully we got the message across
he said.
