It's on all of us B.R.A.V.E. joins nationwide movement to combat campus sexual harassment

ANDREW FORTIN-CALDERA Sports Editor @afortincaldera

It can happen to anyone.

Among undergraduate students, 23.1 percent of females and 5.4 percent of males experience some form of sexual harassment or assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation, according to RAINN, an antisexual violence organization. However, nationwide, people are addressing the issue to change the stigma when discussing sexual assault.

On campus, Brahmas

Responding with Actions and Voices through Empowerment (B.R.A.V.E) spoke to students about sexual assault and measures to prevent it in the “It’s On Us” event on the Mall last Thursday.

“It’s On Us” is a nationwide cultural movement dedicated to raising awareness, with the goal of curtailing sexual assault.

Lara Conrady-Wong, the student engagement coordinator and counselor, said that the event was hosted by B.R.A.V.E in conjunction with the Student Health Center and the Cal State Northridge non-profit organization Strength United.

Conrady-Wong said that the event aimed to promote active attempts to prevent assault rather than focusing on its aftereffects.

“The Clothesline Project was geared toward acknowledging survivors of sexual assault. This movement seeks to promote sexual assault prevention,” ConradyWong said. “It’s meant to inspire others to get in front of the epidemic, rather than focus on the fallout.”

Conrady-Wong said that the “It’s On Us” event at Pierce is timely, considering the sexual assault cases prevalent in recent news.

“It’s the perfect time to have an event like this because students are going to be learning about the problem with all that’s been happening in the news. This gives us a chance to further educate them and teach them how they can stop sexual assault before it happens,” Conrady-Wong said.

Julia Stern, a prevention education specialist with Strength

United, said that the “It’s On Us” movement seeks to encourage individuals to not standby when faced with a crime or when seeing someone in need.

“The movement is meant to promote upstander intervention. Where bystanders witness an event and choose not to do something about it, upstanders do the opposite and intervene when someone needs help,” Stern said.

Stern said that the movement was inspired in part by a persistent culture that seems to treat sexual assault as a facet of life rather than an issue that can be addressed and stopped.

“All too often, we teach young girls how not to be sexually assaulted, which seems to say that, ‘It’s not if it happens, it’s when it happens.’ We’re trying to challenge that as a condition of living,” Stern said. “It’s not enough to be there to hold someone’s hand after something happens. We need to be there to protect people.”

Like Stern, Associated Student Organization (ASO) president Efren Lopez said that the ASO was inspired to host the event with B.R.A.V.E and the Student Health Center to emphasize sexual assault as a topic of concern.

“When sexual assault is highlighted in news with politicians and celebrities, it can seem like it’s something that only happens in the higher levels of society above ordinary people,” Lopez said. “It happens everyday, but people like us don’t have the same platform to speak up from. This movement creates that grassroots change in how we talk about sexual assault among the general population.” hold an animal, knowing the difference between overdosing and underdosing, how to give a dog a pill and how to extract blood, are just a few skills that

Lopez said that the “It’s On Us” movement makes sure the topic of sexual assault does not get lost in a deluge of popular news stories and gives people a way to keep the discourse surrounding the subject alive and on focus.

“Sometimes, people might get sick of the news or feel oversaturated with the same things happening, but this is a conversation that needs to continue. The movement makes sure that we can talk and keep on talking about the issue of sexual assault,” Lopez said.

Review:

Garay said that she uses the experience she learned at Pierce while working at a cat clinic sanctuary, where she rescue cats from shelters.

After Pierce, Garay hopes to get a job working with cats and reptiles. Garay said that she might continue her education after Pierce.

“If I continue, I will probably go to CSUN and major in biology,” Garay said.

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President of the QBC Gabrielle Castleberry-Gordon, 23, said the person or people responsible were trying to impose their will on what they wanted the club to do and how they wanted them to interact with the QBC.

“The QBC thought we would take the time to educate people and that people know we’re here and why we’re here,” Gordon said. “It’s a friendly way for all of us to get together and sort out our differences.”

The training will focus on gender binary, different sexualties, and how to respect them.

Gordon said they will also educate community members about what to do in the event that someone says something disrespectful to an LGBTQ person, and how to fix the situation.

Co-Advisor for the QBC and associate instructor of communication Christine ErsigMarcus said the Safe Zone training is important because the number one goal is to bring awareness to the campus about the LGBTQ