Members of the Chancellor’s Task Force on Sexual and Relationship Violence pose with Chancellor Syverud, fourth from right, Otto the Orange and Emily Durand, next to Otto, on Teal Tuesday.
The It’s On Us campus student ambassadors have planned a number of events, programs and awareness activities for It’s On Us Week of Action from Oct. 23- 27. The It’s On Us national campaign encourages every member of the community to take the pledge and do their part to end sexual and relationship violence.
Emily Durand, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education, is an It’s On Us National Student Advisory Committee member for the northeast region and one of the SU campus organizers for It’s On Us. We asked her four questions to learn more about It’s On Us and the Week of Action.
The Week of Action is a time of concentrated activism focused on spreading awareness and empowering students, faculty and community members to create culture change around sexual assault. This year, our week is focused on the theme of masculinity and encouraging more male-identifying folks to get involved, but other campuses may have a different set of goals. This past spring for instance, our goal was to empower the military community. While the audience we aim to reach may change, the end goal is usually the same—to create a fundamental culture change.
It’s so difficult to choose just one highlight! One of the best moments for me was on Teal Tuesday when the Chancellor, Otto and several members of the Chancellor’s Task Force, all sporting their teal ribbons, came together in the Schine Atrium to take a photo. Teal is the color to show support for survivors of sexual assault, so it was really important to us that they took the time out of their busy schedules to show their support, not only for the campaign, but for survivors.
The role of an It’s On Us Campus Organizer is to organize events that empower students to become active bystanders against sexual assault. Campus Organizers create a team of five captains who each have their own title and specialty, such as Bystander Captain, Consent Captain and Digital Organizing Captain. They work together to reach out to not only traditional partners but nontraditional partners as well in order to spread the It’s On Us message.
If students would like to get involved as a Team Captain or as a volunteer, they can send a message to the It’s On Us SU Facebook page. We’re constantly checking it for new messages. As a second option, they can also feel free to get in touch with me at my email, ekdurand@syr.edu. If students would like to become a Campus Organizer or Student Advisory Committee Member, applications will open near the beginning of summer at itsonus.org.
