Promoting Sexual Assault Awareness

Mississippi College will spread awareness for sexual assault prevention on April 28.

Sexual assault is a growing concern on college campuses nationwide.

A recent study of over 150,000 students at 27 universities shows 23 percent of the women reported they were victims of sexual assault. The numbers rose as high as 34 percent for female seniors at the University of Michigan and 32 percent at Yale, according to the report released last fall. Schools like the University of Florida, Iowa State and Cal Tech were part of the study.

It’s an issue that many schools across America are addressing. And Mississippi College is no exception. MC leaders are setting up information tables on the Quad on April 28 to make students more aware of the serious situation, and take steps to stop it.

“Our focus this year is the prevention of sexual assault on college campuses,” says Mississippi College Graduate School Dean Debbie Norris.

“By providing information on what sexual assault is and how it affects everyone, we hope to empower our campus community to help prevent this from happening,” Norris said.

Staffers from the MC Counseling Center are helping spread the word. So are students. Donuts, white ribbons for men, teal ribbons for women and coasters will be distributed from 10 a.m. until noon that Thursday morning to get the message out.

In April 2014, the White House Task to Protect Students from Sexual Assault released its first report. Findings showed that one out of every five female college students experienced sexual assault during their college years. The report also noted that 62 percent of the campus incidents involved drugs or alcohol.

While some may dispute the numbers, “everyone will agree that sexual assault is a bad thing,” Norris said. “We are focusing on how to prevent this bad thing.”