Student organizations will collaborate with campus life staff to organize the second annual Sexual Assault Awareness Week this week.
Kendall Grant, one of the student organizers of SAAW, said she hopes the events will give people “greater knowledge, awareness and empathy,” according to a University press release.
Grant said the events build each day “to address the campus climate, who’s at risk, any gaps in current policies and how we can create a better, safer environment,” the University said.
The first event on Monday will be a keynote address by Kate Harding, author of “Asking for it: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture — and What we Can Do About It.” Her book addresses the myth that women who were raped “asked for it” and the pervasiveness of rape in American culture, according to the University.
Events scheduled for the week include an “Art for Awareness Performance Showcase” on Tuesday, a discussion of sexual assault in the LGBT community and a screening of “It Happened Here” — a documentary film by Emmy Award winner Lisa F. Jackson about sexual assault cases from Amherst College, Vanderbilt University and the University of Connecticut, according to the SAAW website.