Each September, Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Month provides students, faculty and staff at Pitt with education and resources on sexual violence prevention and support.
This year’s Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Month is led by Prevention at Pitt, which will host several events throughout September to spread awareness on the “Red Zone” observed on college campuses.
The first months of college — from the start of the semester up to Thanksgiving break in November — mark the “Red Zone” of sexual assault risk, meaning sexual unsafety is at its peak. During this period, more than 50% of all college sexual assaults occur.
Because of this threat, knowing the importance of safe and consensual sex is crucial, according to Willa Campbell, the lead prevention director at Prevention at Pitt.
“[In] the first half of the fall semester, people are most vulnerable to experiencing sexual misconduct, especially our first-year students and people who are new to campus,” Campbell said. “We really want to make sure that people are aware of their resources.”
First-year students are two to 4.6 times more likely than their older peers to experience drug-and-alcohol-faciliated sexual assault. That’s why Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Month at Pitt takes place during the first full month of the academic year.
Prevention at Pitt is dedicated to sexual assault prevention and education, according to Campbell. Their office focuses on three methods of education with events and resources throughout the year — awareness building, cultural change and survivor support.
For added accessibility, last year Prevention at Pitt launched weekly non-disclosure groups in partnership with Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, according to Carrie Benson, the director of Prevention at Pitt. These are safe spaces for people to discuss education on sexual violence and coping mechanisms for those affected, without having to divulge their personal experiences.
“They’re really meant to be an entry level way to support and get care as well,” Benson said. “[People] form a community without feeling like they have to disclose, because sometimes people aren’t ready to disclose.”
The events this month include an open house for Prevention at Pitt, “Swiping Right on Prevention Bingo,” Terrariums with CARE, “Consent is FRIES” and “Stories of Us.”
Prevention at Pitt also holds events and provides resources throughout the year, including for Relationship Violence Awareness month in October and Sexual Assault Awareness month in April.
Benson said that Prevention at Pitt tries “to engage people every single month in tons of different ways.”
“We have our big months at the beginning and toward the end of the year with lots of things in between,” Benson said. “[We] recognize that everyone’s entering into this conversation at a different point, so we do a lot of different types of programming.”
Relationship Violence Awareness month will emphasize certain pop culture references to engage with and educate students, according to Benson. To fit into the Halloween-theme of October, Prevention at Pitt will offer events honing in on the negative-but-glorified relationships in “vampires and werewolf” media, Benson said.
For students who need to ease into the sexual assault awareness resources on campus, there are other ways to contact Prevention at Pitt outside of going to events.
“We have an email address that they can reach if they want a little bit more … information before coming up [to the 31st floor],” Campbell said.
The Prevention at Pitt office can be found on floor 31 of the Cathedral of Learning, where students can drop in for extra support. For more questions regarding reporting an act of sexual violence, visit Pitt’s Office of Institutional Engagement and Wellbeing website for Title IX resources.
Ehryn Ortega, a prevention educator at Pitt, encourages students to take advantage of the office and use PAAR’s Wednesday walk-in sessions from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“It’s a really important month that we make sure that we are supporting survivors on campus,” Ortega said. “[There are] a lot of people within Pitt that are cheering them on.”
Benson highlighted the best way to support sexual assault victims — to “start with believing.” There is a common notion of victim-blaming language that can make progression difficult for survivors, according to Benson.
“[Don’t] ask a lot of questions, but instead, just listen to what someone wants to share with you and let them decide what is best for them,” Benson said. “Everyone is going to want to move forward in their journey in a different way.”