The College of Southern Maryland has joined a national public awareness
campaign, “It’s On Us,” to help prevent sexual assault on campus.
The campaign provides colleges with a practical tool, identified by the
White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, to
engage and empower students to take action against violence.

CSM is launching the “It’s On Us” campaign during the college’s
fall festival events on each campus. Part of the campaign asks students
to take a pledge that they recognize that non-consensual sex is sexual
assault, that they will identify situations in which sexual assault may
occur, that they will intervene in situations where consent has not or
cannot be given, and that they will create an environment in which
sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported.

“The aim of this campaign is to shift the way we think about sexual
assault by asking everyone to recognize their role in preventing it,”
said CSM Associate Vice President of Diversity and Institutional Equity
Makeba Clay. “CSM is committed to creating an environment on our
campuses where students and visitors feel safe.”

The campaign supports student-led efforts that are already underway
across the country and will focus particularly on motivating college men
to get involved.

CSM is one of more than 200 colleges and universities across the
country, partnering with the Center for American Progress’ Generation
Progress.
The task force report included action steps, recommendations and best
practices in the areas of identifying problems through campus climate
surveys, prevention, administration response to assault and transparency
of enforcement efforts by the federal government. The campaign seeks to
engage college students and all members of campus communities in
preventing sexual assault in the first place, according to the task
force report.

According to a media release from the White House Task Force, most men
are not comfortable with violence against women, but often don’t speak
out because they believe that other men accept this behavior. By getting
men involved, the campaign organizers want to change this way of
thinking and create new social norms. Research shows that bystander
intervention can be an effective way of stopping sexual assault before
it happens, as bystanders play a key role in preventing, discouraging
and/or intervening when an act of violence has the potential to occur.

As the latest Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report on preventing
campus sexual violence shows, wide-ranging, population-based strategies
like bystander intervention have the greatest potential to effect
positive and meaningful change. Bystander education and training aims to
heighten awareness, challenge social norms, decrease misperceptions
about sexual assault and provide skills that increase one’s confidence
to intervene effectively, according to task force materials.

To take the “It’s On Us” pledge, visit
http://www.csmd.edu/diversity/itsonus.html.