EMILY COWLES
STAFF WRITER
This past week nursing students Katie Bush (‘19) and Sophia Guzman (‘19) brought pieces of the No More Campaign to Alma College. These students aimed to raise awareness for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence on college campuses.
“The No More movement was started by Law and Order SVU’s lead actress, Mariska Hargitay. This movement’s main purpose is to help support victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse,” said Guzman.
“However, it is a movement that has spread across the country, helping influence many college campuses to host events and prevention/outreach initiatives in order to not only raise money, but also raise awareness of these issues, while continuing to support the victims and promote that change needs to occur,” said Guzman.
On Monday night, Bush and Guzman showed a documentary that portrayed the sexual violence that occurs on college campuses. This film, accessible to the public by Netflix, shows acts of sexual assault and domestic violence being committed, as well as the trauma of attempting to seek help after these experiences.
“The movie, The Hunting Ground, is a very heavy and informative film that really touches base on the acts of sexual assault on college campuses. Not only does it tell the stories of victims from colleges all across the country, it also portrays the acts of college campus administration and faculty trying to cover up the facts and attempt to keep the victims quiet so it does not fall back on their college or university image,” said Guzman.
Both Bush and Guzman agreed showing this film in conjunction with bringing the No More Campaign to campus was important. This film can relate to students and show people who have never experienced these situations that they are real and can happen to anyone.
“I feel that when people hear ‘sexual assault,’ they automatically assume we are talking about women. However, these types of movements support everyone, including men, women, students and staff members. This movement was created to help everyone who has been a part of an incidence, and no one should be discouraged to come forward and speak to someone in order to get help,” said Guzman.
Bush explained that if someone knows something about an act like this being committed but is scared of any repercussions that may come if they say something, then they should seek help and speak out in order to protect themselves and others.
“It is very important to take care of yourself. And if someone is in a situation where they know something that happened and they don’t really know what to do and how to act, there are people on campus who don’t report, and that includes the Chaplin and the Counseling and Wellness Center. It’s not bad if you’re scared to reach out [for help],” said Bush.
Maya Dora-Laskey, Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies, followed up Bush’s comment by adding different organizations that students can go to for resources, as well as organizations with a voice against sexual assault and domestic violence on colleges campuses, mainly here in Alma.
“I always recommend collaborating with other organizations—some good partners might have been Health and Wellness, Diversity and Inclusion/ CSO, Women’s and Gender Studies, Kappa Iota (KI), and MacCurdy Women’s House, and our Title IX Office on campus and Women’s Resource Center, RISE Advocacy (formerly Women’s Aid), Child Advocacy, and Alma PD in the Alma community,” said Dora-Laskey.
For those who are looking to be more active in organizations such as No More, there will be events held by Title IX in April, and students can contact Kaydee Hall with any questions.
The upcoming events for this are as follows: April 2 will be a forum with RISE staff members, April 6 will be the Scots Ask 5k and April 9 is Cone-sent. There will also be members of the No More Campaign at Open Mic with Theta Chi.
