By Andrew Thibaudeau, Staff Writer
Last week, the Office of Sexual Respect and Title IX hosted its annual “It’s On Us” week of action. Each year, Title IX Director Amanda Blaugher and various organizations on campus collaborate to raise awareness for violence prevention and sexual harassment.
During this event, students are challenged to sign a pledge that states their concerted effort to mitigate these issues throughout the campus, whether that be done by challenging a person who makes a sexist joke or by physically intervening during a potentially dangerous situation.
Blaugher emphasized the rapid expansion of this program throughout the college, exemplifying the affiliation of college sports teams with the program. She even noted that an increasing number of students were coming to sign the pledge throughout the years. As a consequence, she stated that students were becoming increasingly confident in their comfort level here on campus.
Blaugher said that Title IX reports have been increasing numerically since the program began. She claimed that this was a clear indicator of the success of the outreach on campus and that this collaborative effort was removing barriers between victims and the help that they needed.
Blaugher also referenced some important information that she stated would be instrumental to the campaign. She first acknowledged how students at the college are well-educated regarding the subject. The Office of Sexual Respect and Title IX have even changed their motives due to the high-volume participation and well-educatedness of the student body. A new central goal of the office is to challenge integrated and normalized behavior that is conducive to these negative actions.
Each student who signed the pledge was offered a custom “It’s On Us” t-shirt to show college solidarity on the matter. This was all thanks to the state funding that the college has received due to its outreach and planning.
As the week comes to an end, Blaugher emphasized that it is necessary to bear in mind that student support should not waver. More related events will continue to appear throughout the academic year, such as at sporting events and related lectures.
