The Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center coordinated a variety of events during April in observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month alongside university institutions and student organizations.

The events began with Teal Tuesday on April 1. Teal is the nationally recognized color in solidarity with sexual violence prevention, so the campus community was encouraged to wear teal to raise awareness and represent their commitment towards ending sexual violence.

Many events aimed to increase awareness of sexual assault and relationship violence while providing spaces for open dialogue. These included educational workshops, tabling at Speakers Circle, movie screenings and mindfulness events.

A workshop event to create safety keychains and a self defense class were also available as tools to help students stay safe.

Denim Day was observed on April 23 to promote the message that all people should be respected no matter what clothing they wear, and that choice of clothing does not constitute sexual violence. It is an international event on April 30 that offers solidarity to survivors of sexual assault.

Katryna Sardis, assistant director of Inclusive Engagement, oversees the RSVP Center and offers support to the women’s and LGBTQ resource centers. She believes having resources for sexual assault and violence prevention on college campuses is an important way to ensure students feel supported during a time that is already full of changes.

“This is their home away from home, and you should feel safe and comfortable in your home,” Sardis said. “When you know that other people in your community are bringing awareness to similar things or talking about violence prevention, that does create that sense of safety and that sense of community.”

Having events across campus was a major goal for this year’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month observance. The RSVP Center worked to develop a tag for the 27 events on MU Engage that allowed students to easily find events that weren’t directly attached to the center. Sardis felt this involvement was important.

“It’s truly about students seeing, unfortunately, the wide net that is affected by sexual violence,” Sardis said. “But it also shows how everywhere on this campus, work is able to be done, work is being done, and it just looks different.”

Sardis hopes students interested in participating in Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the future know that their ideas are welcome and encouraged. The RSVP Center can help students and organizations coordinate their own Sexual Assault Awareness Month events or provide information about programming already being offered.

“The work and the content itself is daunting and sometimes scary enough that we need to have ways to have these conversations or just raise awareness that are low threshold and not intimidating,” Sardis said.

As the month comes to an end, Sardis said the RSVP Center is open to everyone in need of support no matter their gender, sexuality or campus affiliation.

“Student, faculty or staff, you are not alone and we will make sure that you get back what you feel like you’re missing in that moment,” Sardis said. “If it’s community, safety, security, whatever it might be, we want to help you get it back.”

Edited by Julianna Mejia | [email protected]
Copy edited by Emma Harper and Ava Mohror | [email protected]
Edited by Emilia Hansen | [email protected]
Edited by Emily Skidmore | [email protected]