Students will use posters to spread awareness of college sexual abuse

In a partnership between Professor Bill Hanna's and Sexual Violence Victim Advocate program (SVVA), posters will be seen across campus come fall, promoting education and awareness of sexual violence in a college setting.

There are several student advocates, including Betty Cruz. She explained that Hanna had "instructed his class to develop advertisements/posters to help the Sexual Violence Victims Advocate program build awareness throughout EUP. "

"His class did an amazing job," she said. "Our final choices will be posted across campus this fall."

The SVVA's object is to "capture students' attention and to empower women and men through education," which is at the heart of the poster initiative.

These posters will reinforce statistics, which are deeply troubling to any student, male or female.

Cruz added to them with facts that will be seen on these posters: "one in four women and one in six men will be a victim of sexual violence in their lifetime. The period of greatest threat is now, during our college experience. For this reason, it is our goal to educate as many students as possible, since the likelihood of knowing someone who has experienced sexual assault is tragically high and the best thing you can do as a friend is know how to be supportive."

"As you'll see, the posters are provocative and the facts may be unsettling. Still, this is the reality and, as such, education is the best way to motivate students to use risk reduction tips," said Cruz.

Student in Hanna's graphic design class, Josh Ebel, was one of the several who had their ideas chosen for the campaign. His was the "KNOW" poster, which makes use of the powerful colors black, red and white. In large bold lettering there is the word "KNOW" and the phrase underneath "it's not okay."

"I've done projects similar to this in the past. They are always really challenging because it's about more than just making something that looks cool, you are trying to raise awareness about a very important topic. Obviously, the visual aspect is important because you need to grab people's attention but you also want to make them think and hopefully the message will stick with them," he explained of his prerogative.

"When we started this project, I did a little research to find facts and statistics that might be useful in coming up with my design. Some of the statistics I found were staggering," said Ebel. "I couldn't believe what a huge problem sexual violence/assault really is."

Many other students will soon be made aware of this disturbing fact.

"Any students interested in learning more about sexual violence, in need of counseling, or who would like to become an advocate can also contact our group," said Betty Cruz.