Tufts' Department of Alcohol and Health Education this month is hosting Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), which features various organized events and programs scheduled on campus throughout April.
Director of Alcohol and Health Education Ian Wong currently oversees all the health education pieces at Tufts Health Service, including sexual assault education.
"We try to do a diverse set of programs. Some are workshops, others are discussions," he said. "What's hard about sexual assault is it affects almost everyone, but we just don't talk about it. I know a lot of students are inserted in the topic, but it is hard to talk about it because of the nature of it."
Prior to her recent departure from Tufts, Elaine Theodore, former Violence Prevention Education Coordinator, organized programs with Prevention, Awareness & Community at Tufts (PACT) to recognize SAAM on the Hill. Tufts typically observes SAAM in October due to scheduling conflicts, although it is nationally observed in April, Wong said.
The decision to designate April as SAAM in the United States stems from a goal to "raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence," according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center website.
In order to acknowledge SAAM on Tufts' campus, PACT has organized various events and programs throughout April to educate and support students.
Throughout this week, an exhibit at Tisch Library entitled Faces of Survivors: Voices Reclaimed showcases photographs of survivors of sexual assault, abuse and domestic violence in an effort to celebrate the strength of sexual assault survivors. The exhibit is cosponsored by the Office of Equal Opportunity and the Women's Center.
Tufts Voices for Choice (VOX), a student group that focuses on reproductive rights and health, on Wednesday cosponsored the Safe SEXpo, a fair that recognized the national Get Yourself Tested campaign.
"[Get Yourself Tested is] a national campaign targeted at young people to encourage them to get tested and talk openly with partners about [sexually transmitted infections]," VOX President Aliza Gordon, a sophomore, said. "It aims to dispel common myths about STI symptoms and transmission. It focuses instead on opening the conversation so that people can get medically accurate information and ask their questions in a safe environment."
"The SEXpo stressed thoughtful communication with sexual partners and the importance of discussing sexual health as a whole," VOX Webmaster Jennifer Wang, a sophomore, said. "I think that these themes are found within the overall themes of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and our SEXpo definitely contributes to the overall goal of education within Sexual Assault Awareness Month."
Students can also participate in off?campus activities that acknowledge SAAM. The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center on Sunday will host the seventh annual Walk for Change. The event invites survivors, families, friends, teams and volunteers to participate together in the walk, according to the event flyer.
"[We need to] give support to survivors and also respect them," Wong said. "It can be an empowering month but also a very triggering month. We don't want anyone to be traumatized."
Ultimately, Wong said, the goal of hosting SAAM is to educate the campus about the existence of sexual assault at Tufts.
"We also want to give a voice to the survivors that we know this is happening and we are trying to do the best that we can to support them," Wong said.
Wong advised students to help combat sexual assault by speaking out against it.
"If you see something sketchy, you need to take that opportunity to speak up. Students see things happening before we can, and it's important for them to speak up," Wong said.
"We know it's awfully hard, and you don't want to seem like you're speaking out of place, but you don't want to live with knowing you could have stopped something," Wong said. "When students educate themselves, they have the power to stop this from happening."
