Activists and Presidential Campaign Draw Attention to Campus Sexual Assault

A young woman is schlepping her mattress around the campus of Columbia University, where she is a senior. She takes it to class, the library– anywhere on campus. It is always with her. She does not ask for help, but if you offer, she’ll accept.

Emma Sulkowicz says that she was raped in her own bed, and until her assaulter is banned from campus, she will carry her fifty-pound mattress with her at all times. Three other women filed complaints against the same man.

This performance piece is her senior thesis for her major in visual arts. Sulkowicz is calling this project “Carry that weight,” to symbolize the harsh mental effects of sexual assault, and, on an unresponsive campus, the way that an individual often has to bear that weight alone. She has set up various rules for herself in regard for this project.

Sulkowicz is only one of the many young individuals who are stepping up and speaking out against sexual assault on college campuses. Students, especially young women, are fighting to shed the stigma associated with sexual assault– rather than feel shame as a victim, or “survivor” as many are opting for, young men and women are turning their stories into a movement.

Sexual assault on college campuses is a pervasive issue that many have been silent about. However, a new wave of activism is bringing the issue out of the darkness and, with national attention, forcing colleges to address the problem.

President Obama and Vice President Biden are spearheading the new “It’s on Us” campaign, designed to draw attention to and prevent campus sexual assault.

The campaign points out that it is our responsibility “to recognize that non-consensual sex is sexual assault…to identify situations in which sexual assault may occur… to intervene in situations where consent has not or cannot be given…to create an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported,” as stated on itsonus.org.

The premise of the campaign focuses on changing the culture surrounding sexual violence, and goes to the root of the source, asking men in particular to help put an end to sexual assault. “It is not just ok to intervene,” President Obama said of young men at the launch of the campaign. “It is your responsibility.

“It is not just on the parents of young women to caution them. It is on the parents of young men to teach them respect for women… and it’s on grown men to set an example and be clear about what it means to be a man. It is on all of us to reject the quiet tolerance of sexual assault… and we especially need our young men to show women the respect they deserve and to recognize sexual assault and do what they can to stop it.”

The PSA features a number of famous individuals well-known amongst the college-age demographic. NBA star Kevin Love, Scandal’s Kerry Washington, and Mad Men’s Jon Hamm are only a few of the famous individuals featured in the video.

People are also encouraged to take the pledge on itsonus.org: “This pledge is a personal commitment to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault. It is a promise not to be a bystander to the problem, but to be a part of the solution.” The site also features tools and tips specific to college students.

In May, the United States Department of Education released a list of 55 colleges and universities that are under investigation for the mishandling of sexual assault complaints. Columbia University is only one of the big-name, prestigious universities on the list. Amherst, Boston University, Harvard, Princeton, Swarthmore, Penn State, and Carnegie Mellon are some of the other major universities and colleges being investigated.

Sulkowicz is not facing the fight on her particular campus alone. On September 12, Columbia students held a demonstration to protest the university’s inadequate response to sexual violence. Over 50 survivors of acts of sexual violence spoke.

Students brought out their mattresses covered with red tape reading, “Stand with survivors,” “CU has a rape problem,” and “Carry that weight,” as reported by the Huffington Post.

President Obama hopes that the campaign, as well as all of the attention being brought to the issue by students like those at Columbia, will force a change in the culture of American campuses.

“Campus sexual assault is something we as a nation can no longer turn away from and say, ‘that’s not our problem,’” he said at the campaign launch.

“Our society still does not sufficiently value women. We still don’t condemn sexual assault as loudly as we should. We make excuses. We look the other way. The message we send can have a chilling effect on women.”

The campaign, activists, and survivors like Sulkowicz are looking to change that