The first “It’s on Us” campaign was started by former President Barack Obama in September 2014. The main focus is to urge people to take the pledge to help prevent sexual assault on college campuses.
Sixteen days later, on Sept. 30, 2014, the Oswego State Student Association passed a resolution to continue to support and fight for an end to sexual assault and violence.
April is the month dedicated to raising awareness to sexual assault. On Monday, student volunteers as well as students and faculty members who work with the Title IX office tabled in the Marano Campus Center from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Their goal was to entice students to take the “It’s on Us” pledge and receive a free “It’s on Us, It’s on Oz” shirt to wear in support of the campaign and in support of the end to sexual violence.
In addition to the pledge, there were social media opportunities at the table, including taking a photo with an “It’s on Us” backdrop to flood social media with awareness. The table also showcased fliers for different free ticket events for students to honor the survivors of sexual assault.
“We are trying to raise awareness for a concern and are having people taking the pledge that we have on the back of the shirts,” said Perri Fleischman, a volunteer and Oswego State senior.
“I got involved with ‘It’s on US’ through my internship with [Evaneski] last spring, and I think it’s good. It is a unique way to raise awareness.”
Evaneski is the coordinator of the Title IX office, which works to enforce the Title IX federal anti-discrimination law. Evaneski works with reports from different aspects of Title IX, including reports of sexual assault, harassment and discrimination on campus, as well as to promote and work with programs such as “It’s on Us” to help decrease the number of these kinds of incidents. Evaneski was present at the “It’s on Us” table with the student volunteers, working with them to encourage passing students to take the pledge and answer any questions they may have.
“I feel like we are having a fairly good turnout,” Fleischman said. “This is the first one I’ve been involved in, so like it’s kind of cool to see how it goes.”
There were throngs of students lined up at the table, eager to take the pledge. Melany Delgado, a freshman at Oswego State, heard about the “It’s On Us” event via email and from her friends in Alpha Phi Omega, a community service fraternity on campus, who were involved with the event.
“I think this is something that everyone should have knowledge about,” Delgado said. “Sexual assault does happen on campus or off throughout many schools, so having free T-shirts or little things to give out and have people wear is definitely going to help raise awareness.”
As students took the pledge and got their free T-shirt, many changed their shirt in order to wear the “It’s on Us” one for the remainder of the day to raise awareness and promote the event.
Sammantha Flavell | The Oswegonian
