A crowd of 250 Penn State students marched down Pollock Road to show their intolerance for sexual violence this past Friday.
The demonstration, a first for the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA), included students from many different activist groups all chanting, “We are against sexual violence.”
The march is a response to the increasing reports of sexual assault on campus. UPUA hopes to create awareness and make a visible stand against sexual violence.
Committee Chairman for Student Life and Diversity Christian Ragland, a junior political science major, said the march was only the beginning of their plans to bring light to a dangerously emerging issue. “It's one thing to create awareness, but its another thing to understand these issues can really affect anyone," Ragland said.
Scot Brown, senior at PSU and president of the Men Against Violence Against Women group, said intolerance to sexual violence is an issue that everyone, not just women, should champion.
"I think a lot of guys are interested in the issue but think it's not something they have to deal with," Brown said. "But they have a role to play, on campus and in society."
Ragland said the safety of the student body is something UPUA will continue to highlight. "We do want to make ourselves accountable for what happens on campus," he said.
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