A coalition of campus and community groups is spending the month of April raising awareness about sexual assault.

Participating groups include the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, the Story County Sexual Assault Response Team and the Ames Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support.

Tara Fisher, senior in psychology and ACCESS volunteer, said April includes events from last year, as well as several new ones.

“This is the 16th year for ‘Take Back the Night’ at Iowa State,” she said.

The Take Back the Night rally and march, which works to unite men, women and children in an awareness of violence against women, children and families, will begin at 7 p.m. April 18 at the Terrace of the Memorial Union.

Awareness events begin Tuesday with the Clothesline Project, a national event that began in Massachusetts in 1990.

The event will take place on the lawn of the Sloss House and will display T-shirts made by abuse survivors.

“If a survivor wants to, they can make a T-shirt about their experience,” Fisher said. “It lets people know this is actually happening, and that it happens a lot. It’s also a way for the victim to heal.”

The rain date for the Clothesline Project is Thursday.

A new event this year is “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes,” in which men will walk one mile in high-heeled shoes. The event, done in partnership with the Interfraternity Council, will be at 6:15 p.m. April 13.

Immediately following the walk, at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union, is a lecture given by Mike Domitrz, entitled “Can I Kiss You?”

On April 11, the Sexual Assault Response Team will hold a flag display on the lawn south of Parks Library. More than 400 white flags will be displayed – one for every single woman the organization has helped since its inception.

According to www.rainn.org, someone in America is sexually assaulted every two-and-a-half minutes, and an estimated 58 percent of sexual assaults go unreported.

Only 31 percent of sexual assaults are carried out by a stranger – 47 percent by an acquaintance and 17 percent by an intimate partner.

“We call them survivors,” Fisher said.

“They’re not a victim; a victim is someone who died. We also want to empower them to overcome the experience.”

A full calendar of events and a list of volunteer opportunities is available at the Women Center’s Web site, www.dso.iastate.edu/wc.