KINGSTON, R.I. – April 21, 2017 – “Take Back the Week: Sexual Assault Awareness” is returning to the University of Rhode Island from Monday, April 24, to Friday, April 28. For the first time, the event will be co-hosted by the URI Women’s Center and the Peers Learning Educating and Supporting Everyone (P.L.E.A.S.E) in partnership with URI Student Senate. With events every day of the week, the program aims to raise awareness, inform and provide discussion on sexual violence.
The events are:
Monday, April 24 – Peer Pong, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of the Memorial Union, 50 Lower College Road on the Kingston Campus. This educational version of the drinking game will involve questions about bystander awareness, consent and healthy sexuality to help prompt discussion about sexual violence on college campuses. The participants will have the opportunity to win small prizes.
Masculinity Monday workshop, from 4 to 6 p.m. in Atrium 2 of Memorial Union. The campus organization, BOND (Brothers on a New Direction), will join a discussion on masculinity and culture and will screen the 2015 documentary The Mask You Live In, which will be followed by a discussion.
Tuesday, April 25 – ConsenTEA, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Hardge Forum of the Multicultural Center, 74 Lower College Road on the Kingston Campus. Students can stop by for tea and a discussion about consent and the importance of constant communication.
Wednesday, April 26 – Denim Day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Memorial Union sidewalk, is an international protest in response to the Italian Supreme Court’s overruling of a sexual assault in 1999 in which the court decided that because the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped her attacker remove them, thereby giving consent. Wear your favorite pair of jeans to make a statement against victim blaming.
Thursday, April 27 – Take Back the Night, from 6 to 9 p.m. starting in the Quinn Hall Auditorium, 55 Lower College Road, and ending on the Quad on the Kingston Campus. Students and the community will be able to meet activists from all over campus for a keynote presentation..
Friday, April 28 – Feminist Art Night with Etherbound Mag, from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Gender & Sexuality Center, 19 Upper College Road on the Kingston Campus. The final campus event of the week will feature art, music and poetry, as well as the campus publication Etherbound Mag, which includes submissions by URI students and Rhode Island residents. Submissions are still welcome and may be submitted to Hannah Woodhouse at hannwoodhouse@gmail.com
Saturday, April 29, The Rhode Island Student Collaborative invites community members to join a demonstration in solidarity with survivors of campus sexual violence, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Statehouse, 82 Smith St., Providence.
For further information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/66278056
Sarah Saltiel-Ragot, an international student from Sciences Po Rennes in France and an intern in URI’s Department of Marketing and Communications, wrote this press release.