About a year ago Alpha Delta Pi sorority and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity launched a national campaign urging fraternity men and sorority women to "live their oath" and not tolerate sexual assault and violence on their campuses.
Fittingly the campaign relaunched this April, just in time for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Not only did the campaign re-launch with the same components, but even emphasized other new issues that students should be aware of on their college campuses. This issue is not something that is just going to go away. We have to take a stance. We can make a change.
According to the National Sexual Violence and Resource Center, "one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college, and "63.3 percent of men at one university who self-reported acts qualifying as rape or attempted rape admitted to committing repeat rapes." Those statistics are very high. One in five, that means in a class of 160 students with 100 being women, 10 of the 100 have been sexually assaulted. Same with the men in the class. The same goes for the sorority chapter or fraternity chapter.
This campaign is not only spearheaded with a 12-minute video that explains sexual assault, consent, and the actions a victim can take, but there is also a discussion guide that is recommended to be used when groups review the video and "take an oath". This discussion guide outlines more examples of sexual assault and asks the facilitator to locate the policies of the college or university and where they can be found along with the contact information for their title IX coordinator on campus.
This campaign is more than just signing a card and posing for a picture with your chapter or organization. This is a life-long commitment to the values of your organization. This April I urge for your sorority, fraternity and organizations to watch the video, complete the discussion guide, take the oath, live the oath and share the program. There is only one way to end sexual assault on campus and it's taking an action and living your oath.
For more information on the Live Your Oath campaign please visit www.liveyouroath.org.
