April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and this week on campus, the Men Against Rape Program is displaying 14,000 flags around campus, including in front of D.H. Hill Library, Mary Anne Foxx fields and the Court of North Carolina.
According to the Student Health Services Web site, one out of four women are victims of rape or attempted rape during their college years, and one out of five students will have a direct personal experience with relationship violence.
“There are 14000 flags around NCSU’s campus, one for every female student at NCSU,” Vansana Nolintha, a junior in chemistry and art design, said. “One in every four flags is red to symbolize the one in every four females that will experience sexual assault and rape during her lifetime.”
For the Men Against Rape program, this is not a message of despair but rather a call for awareness and action.
“It’s a good thing to be aware of, and it’s good to support someone who wants to create awareness,” Jennifer McCann, a junior in criminology, said.
The program hosted a candlelight vigil Sunday night at the Court of North Carolina and over 150 people were invited to attend and show their support.
“I know a lot of people that have been affected by rape in their lives, and I think it’s great what they’re doing because a lot people don’t want to talk about such a sensitive topic, and it needs to be raised and people need to be able to talk about it on college campuses,” Rebecca Crain, a junior in psychology and Spanish, said.
After the flags are displayed on campus, these flags will be displayed at different universities and high schools throughout the state, according to Nolintha.
“The Men Against Rape Program is a new organization at NCSU,” Nolintha said. “Our goal is to spread the awareness of rape and sexual assault.”
Rape and sexual assault is a major problem on our campus and in our society, and men are also part of this problem, he said.
“I’m impressed that a group of men are doing something about rape and sexual assault awareness, and that there is something that we can do to lessen the occurrence,” Crain said.
McCann said that it is a really great thing to have males support women and thinks that everyone should be aware of rape and sexual assault.
