The Office of Institutional Integrity and Title IX hosted a “Walk for Awareness” on the Arkansas State University campus to help raise awareness of sexual assault. 

25 students, staff, faculty and other members of the community gathered around the Chi Omega fountain on Friday to begin their two-mile walk around campus. Each participant was given a teal bracelet to show support for survivors and raise awareness, as teal is the official color of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 

Kelly Sabian, Title IX investigator, is co-chair of the prevention and planning committee and helped organize the walk. 

“We chose a walk instead of a seminar or a talk because in our experience, seminars and talks are not well attended by students unless there is an extra credit opportunity involved. We chose activities that we thought would be the most impactful,” Sabian said. 

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college.

Tiffany Mosley, director of Institutional Integrity and Title IX, said the best way to help a survivor of sexual assault is to offer them support.   

“If they decline support, actively listen without asking blaming questions such as ‘Are you sure? Why didn’t you leave or fight back?’ Just let the person who was subjected to the act talk. Be supportive and calm. Students who are aware of sexual misconduct should always speak up; if you see something, say something,” Mosley said.

The Office of Institutional Integrity and Title IX is working to raise awareness through events like the walk.

April Prunty, an A-State alum from Jonesboro, said she thinks it’s really important for students to be learning about what sexual assault and consent are. 

“It means a lot to me that people on campus are doing things and events like this. It’s important to be teaching students about things I didn’t really know about when I was a college student and on campus, just about sexual assault and what consent is, because sometimes people think consent is different things,” Prunty said.

Cynthia Cooper, deputy coordinator and co-chair of the prevention and planning committee, said it’s important for the campus and community to come together to show support for the survivors.

“It’s a good way to end a Friday and end the week. It’s a nice little walk to show the community that sexual assault awareness and showing support for the survivors is important. When they see something like this, it empowers them to maybe speak up and speak out and get some help and let them know that they’re not alone,” Cooper said. 

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