Sexual assault on college campuses should be taken with the highest degree and students should demand a healthy dialogue on campus so every member of the community knows the definition of consent and what they can do to break the silence. One in three women and one in six men worldwide experience some form of sexual assault and violence. This, unfortunately, leads to less than 50 percent of survivors reporting these crimes.
Aztecs for Awareness of Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence Prevention at San Diego State University is an organization on campus that strives to raise awareness and educate students, faculty and staff on the issue of sexual assault and violence. It began three years ago at SDSU and branched off of FratManners, a class that promoted fraternity men against rape. The organization works to emphasize the importance of sexual assault education at SDSU because of some of the unfortunate sexual assault occurrences that occurred on and near the campus. By empowering students to proactively act and respond against sexual assault and violence on campus, students can learn to empower their own communities and themselves.
According to the organization's mission statement, Aztecs for Awareness focuses on two main initiatives:
1. The prevention of sexual assault and violence.
2. The proper response to friends or family members who may become victim of rape, sexual assault and or domestic violence.
Students can be allies of sexual assault survivors by referring family and friends to proper resources. The cycle ends through education and support for many of the survivors. The organization is also adamant of assisting people that have experienced sexual assault. The organization's website has a useful survivor's resource tab that has useful on and off campus resources students can contact.
Survivor Resources:
Aztecs for Awareness holds bi-weekly meetings at the Calpulli Center on the fourth floor in room three, and is open to all students looking to increase awareness of sexual assault on campus. Those interested in becoming active members can come to the bi-weekly meetings. Also, Aztecs for Awareness T-shirts are available for $10, and can be purchased at the Health Promotions Office inside the Calpulli Center.
This organization's efforts allowed them to expand on Take Back the Night, traditionally an evening rally held at SDSU supporting womyn's rights to feel safe walking alone at night. However, Aztecs for Awareness felt this was not enough to emphasize the importance of healthy dialogue on sexual assault on campus. Through community efforts, they were able to expand the event and the dialogue on anti-sexual-violence on campus through a new event -- Take Back the Week -- a partnership between SDSU’s Sexual Violence Task Force and Associated Students that was held this past April.
The organization was joined by other student organizations on campus to promote the week-long event series such as the Andrea O'Donnell Womyn's Outreach Association, the Sexual Violence Task Force, and Women's Resource Center. The SDSU Conrad Prebys Student Union gleamed teal throughout the week to promote sexual violence awareness and prevention on campus.
President of Aztecs for Awareness, Tanisha Scorza, is involved with the SDSU Sexual Violence Task Force and works alongside students, faculty and staff to combat sexual violence by providing programs on campus that target sexual assault awareness and prevention.
"One in four women experience sexual assault within their first year of college," Scorza said."If you have 6,000 students starting their freshman year and you only get 12 sexual assaults reported, then there is a miscommunication somewhere. Do they not know they are experiencing sexual assault, do they not know where the resources are? Where is the breakdown?"
The goal for Scorza and her e-board this year is to focus on Take Back the Week, get more student recognized organizations involved in the event. They are also working on getting an ally program through the Women's Resource Center, which will open up this November. She said the hardest part for the organization is to get students, faculty and staff to care about the issue.
"What I will tell any women now is lets talk," Scorza said. Let's tell the world and I will stand by your side and hold your hand because we have to speak up and share our stories, because young women today are not the only women experiencing sexual violence, but someone in the past has experienced it and I believe if we have theses conversations we can protect young girls,"
Sexual assault is about conversation and dialogue among community, so take a look at the organizations "Let's Talk" video series:
For more information on Aztecs for Awareness and how you can get involved please visit their website or email Aztecs for Awareness at nfo@afasdsu.org.
