Every April marks the national Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Nation wide, this month is meant to raise awareness and educate individuals about the issue.

“Our goal every year is to educate the campus on what sexual assault is, what it looks like, what resources are available and to show support and solidary that we don’t tolerate sexual assault on campus,” said Som Mongtin, Interim Director of Sloss Women’s Center.

Iowa State will also take part in educating students about sexual assault. Every year, Margaret Sloss Women’s Center collaborates with multiple student offices and organizations to host different events throughout campus.

“A lot of students think that the women’s center is a reactive situation, like a shelter after something has already happened. We want to get to a more proactive state, where we educate before hand and they can come talk to us,” said Matt Drilling, graduate assistant at Sloss Women’s Center.

Although the Sloss Women’s Center coordinates all the events, this is a campus-wide effort to stop sexual assault. This month of awareness is supported throughout all of campus.

Because of the recent attention in the media about sexual assault in the military, new this year was a documentary and discussion about sexual violence in the U.S Armed Forces.

According to the documentary, The Invisible War, a female solider in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow solider than killed by enemy fire. After the documentary, a panelist of experts from the Iowa National Guard was also there to talk about military sexual trauma.

With the exception of the showing of the documentary, which took the beginning of this week, The Clothesline Project will kick off the week of events on Monday. Throughout the rest of the week, events will take place daily though Thursday.

Outside the Sloss House, The Clothesline Project will be a visual display of T-shirts designed by survivors and their allies. According to the Sloss Women’s Center website, this project is meant to be a way of healing for survivors and encouraging individuals to aid in the prevention of sexual assault. 

Thursday April 24^th will be the end of the weeklong events and the annual “Take Back the Night,” where individuals are invited to rally and march against sexual violence.

            “Take Back the Night” is a rally that will start at the Memorial Union and march across campus to different locations. During the march, there will be signs and chanting. This way we actually get the visual aspect of, ‘this needs to stop’ and as a whole community with one voice we’re saying we’re against sexual assault, said Drilling of the rally.

            “We want to show that we won’t tolerate sexual assault on campus. To show that this is not okay, and here’s our voice against it,” said Mongtin.

The theme this year is “Your Voice, Our Future.” Students are encouraged to speak out against sexual violence and help in the prevention of future acts.

Each year the themes are meant to align with the campus community and be programmed towards students. It is also mean to comply with the whole community. From staff to students, everyone has a voice.