Pinwheels, T-Shirts Help Raise Awareness During SAFE Week
March 07, 2013 - Campus Bulletin
About 4,000 colourful pinwheels will appear on Branion Plaza Tuesday to mark Sexual Assault Free Environment (SAFE) Week, which runs March 11 to 16.
SAFE Week is intended to raise awareness of sexual assault and the importance of personal safety and consent and respectful relationships. It’s sponsored by U of G’s Wellness Centre and the Awareness of Sexual Assault and Prevention Committee.
The pinwheels represent statistically the number of undergraduate students who could be affected directly or indirectly by sexual assault. According to Statistics Canada, one of every four women and one in 10 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes.
“Sexual violence against women is not just a ‘women’s issue,’ it’s a human rights issue,” said Melanie Bowman of the Wellness Centre. “It affects all of us, and we need to work together in a mutually respectful way to eradicate it.”
Other SAFE Week events will include a T-shirt campaign, displays and presentations.
Starting March 11, students may pick up free T-shirts as part of a week-long campaign to support the elimination of sexual assault. Prizes will be awarded to the student who collects the most “solidarity signatures” on their shirts. The shirts will be available at the Wellness Centre, located on the second floor of the J.T. Powell Building (above Student Health Services), from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
T-shirt decorating will take place March 13, 5:30 to 7 p.m., in the Macdonald Hall fireplace lounge.
“The Rose Project,” a one-woman theatre performance about a sexual assault survivor, will be presented March 14 to 16, 8 p.m., in Lower Massey.
For information about campus initiatives to address sexual assault, contact Bowman at mbowman@uoguelph.ca or Ext. 56046.
