Seven people, four of whom were symbolically gagged, stood in the King Memorial Commons to show the “Silent Statistics” of rape and sexual assault Thursday.

Safe Passage, Men Against Sexual and Interpersonal Violence, the Women’s Resource Center, the Public Relations Student Society of America, Women’s Studies, Women’s Right’s Alliance and Health Enhancement all sponsored the demonstration to promote Sexual Assault
Awareness Month.

The gags were used to embody how this issue goes unnoticed and how many victims of such crimes neither report them to the police nor tell those they know.

“It’s a very apparent social justice issue, and programs like this raise awareness for them,” said Cameron Harmon, senior public health major and member of Health Enhancement. He and the other two participants handed out literature and spoke to people who walked by.

The gagged participants weren’t allowed to speak, but instead held signs with statistics on them. One read that three of every 10 rape crimes are reported to the authorities, and another read that 20 rape crimes happen every hour.

Tashianna Milsap, senior public health major and member of Safe Passage, gave another statistic.

“One in four women will be sexually assaulted in their life span,” she said.

Senior sociology major Shante Marshall felt it was her duty to involve herself with the issue.
“It’s important to be out here standing up for victims of rape or harassment,” Marshall said. “Even if I haven’t been victimized, it’s important for me as a woman.”

Freshman finance major Tyler Foreman said it was big problem for colleges and universities and felt that people, especially victims, should make their voices heard.

“I understand, for it can be traumatizing, but it’s going to keep happening if people don’t take a stand on it,” Foreman said.

There will be another demonstration from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday near Stevenson and Thursday in the MLK Commons, according to the flyer.

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