Students walk on campus by the Talley Student Union. Photo by Marc Hall

April has come around again and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, or SAAM, is still needed. Why? To raise awareness of a critical set of issues many still struggle against. SAAM is commemorated across the nation by community agencies, police departments, local businesses and campus communities. The Women’s Center has planned a full calendar of Sexual Assault Awareness Month programs.

New to campus this year is the awareness-raising event, “Carry That Weight.” This campaign, to be led by The Movement Peer Educators, was inspired by the activism of Emma Sulkowicz, who carried her mattress around Columbia University for as long as her rapist remained there. The Movement will be holding a social media awareness-raising event around this activism by asking the campus community to stop by Stafford Commons on April 13, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. to take a photo with a mattress. The Women’s Center is excited to bring Sofie Karasek, a survivor and student activist, to our campus on April 14, 2016. Karasek, our featured guest speaker, will be discussing her role in the award-winning documentary The Hunting Ground: Campus Activism and Ending Rape on Campus. Students, faculty and staff are highly encouraged to join us at 6:30 p.m. in SAS 2203 to hear this dynamic speaker.

This year, we will partner with the Arts Village for our annual Clothesline Project. Survivors are asked to stop by the Women’s Center to decorate t-shirts to express their emotions, give a space for healing and empower themselves to speak out against forms of violence. The Women’s Center is offering an array of free and interactive workshops that target ending sexual violence on campus. On April 12, 2016 from 9:00-11:00 a.m., the Women’s Center will partner with the GLBT Center for the Interpersonal and Sexual Violence in the GLBT Community workshop in Talley 4140. Please visit the GLBT Center’s website to register for this event. We will have the annual Take Back the Night Rally and March on April 21, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. on Stafford Commons.

• View the SAAM 2016 web calendar.
• Download the SAAM 2016 printable calendar.
• Download the Sofie Karasek flyer.
• Download the Take Back the Night flyer.
• Download the Clothesline Project flyer.
• Billboards for all these events are available in the NC State Billboard Community under “Diversity.”

Sara Forcella is the rape prevention education coordinator in the Women’s Center.