Raising Awareness and Lowering Rates of Sexual Assault on East Carolina University’s Campus and Surrounding Areas

Abstract

Sexual assault is a major problem at colleges and universities across America. Our project “The Sexual Assault Initiative” aims to educate students at East Carolina University on what they can do to prevent sexual assault and how they can help victims of it. The first program we implemented to help prevent sexual assault is modeled after Hooters’ “Angel Shot” program. There are posters in women’s restrooms that instruct women to go to the bar and order a shot that contains a code word. This signals to the bartender that she needs help. Our code is specific to the Uptown Greenville area. As of right now, we have this program at Fifth Street Distillery and Annex, and we are working to get in more bars and restaurants in Uptown Greenville. We are also setting up self-defense classes on campus that are taught by the ECU Police Department. They are separated by gender, as both males and females need to learn defense methods since either gender can be victims. We are working with the Student Safety Committee, which we are members of, to set this up. The last part of our project is to honor the victims of sexual assault. We are working with our mentee Honors 3000 group to create an art exhibit that displays art in their honor. We hope this project will have a lasting impact at East Carolina University. My fellow group members will continue this project after my graduation.