Administration

Events across University note Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Several Penn State campuses have scheduled events to recognize April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month. This list will be updated as additional events are announced. Please check back for updates.

Penn State Abington
Penn State Abington has made an ongoing commitment to raise awareness and to provide education about violence, abuse and bigotry directed at children and all members of our society. During the month of April, Abington will reinforce its efforts with a series of events, including raising funds by A Place To Talk (APTT), the Abington peer counseling service, to benefit Mission Kids, the Montgomery County child advocacy organization; recertification of Abington as a No Place For Hate campus for the seventh consecutive year by Anti-Defamation League representatives on Monday, April 9; the one-woman historical drama “Unbinding Our Lives,” which tells the stories of three real Chinese women in the 1800s who suffered abuse at the hands of their families and others and who were sold into prostitution and slavery, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, in the Sutherland Auditorium; and other events. For more information, go to http://live.psu.edu/story/58816.

Penn State Altoona
April is Sexual Assault Awareness month and Penn State Altoona is hosting several events surrounding it. The critically acclaimed documentary "Boys & Men Healing," which focuses on the impact of male child sexual abuse on the individual and society, will be shown at 7 p.m. April 3 in the Misciagna Family Center. The Clothesline Project will be displayed in the Slep Student Center all day on April 4, and students are invited to share stories of survival related to the sexual abuse/assault on shirts. From 4 to 8 p.m. April 4, in a partnership with Family Services Incorporated, a Take Back the Night rally and candlelight vigil will be held in the Laurel Pavilion and in the Slep Center. For details about these events, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/58629.

Penn State Beaver
In recognition of April as Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Penn State Beaver library will host the display of a quilt entitled ‘Survivors Wall’ as well as a display entitled ‘Take a Walk in My Shoes.’ The displays, which are free and open to the public, will remain at the library throughout April and are exhibited with the assistance of Beaver campus librarian Marty Goldberg who hosts an annual April display in conjunction with the Women’s Center. For more information, see http://live.psu.edu/story/58805.

Penn State Berks
Penn State Berks has partnered with the Children’s Alliance Center in an effort to educate faculty and staff about child abuse prevention. Representatives from the Children’s Alliance Center will give a presentation at Penn State Berks from 1 to 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, in room 5, Luerssen Building. This presentation will focus on mandatory reporting processes and procedures, and it is only open to faculty and staff of the campus. For more event information, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/58736.

Penn State Brandywine
A workshop and discussion about the anniversary and history of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and sexual assault policies and movements will be held at Penn State Brandywine at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 12, at a location to be announced. The event will feature a variety of cakes recognizing different milestones and important figures, such as the first Take It All Back initiative, the number of years since the President of the United States announced April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the number of sexual assaults that occur each year.

Also, Nichet Sykes, education coordinator of Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR), will speak at Penn State Brandywine at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 17, at a location to be announced. She will discuss sexual assault services and access to support for survivors. In addition, Jessica Cook, a graduate student intern in the counseling office at Penn State Brandywine, will discuss the stress related to coping with trauma and sexual assault at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 19, in the Commons Building Lion's Den. Attendees can learn valuable skills for coping with stress associated with trauma or assault.

Penn State DuBois
The Closthesline Project, which is a visual display that bears witness to the violence against women, will be on display from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 16, 17 and 18 in the campus Student Union Building. In addition, a take back the night rally will be held in the campus gymnasium at 6 p.m. on April 18.

Penn State Hershey
An estimated three-million children become new victims of child maltreatment each year in the United States, including 25,000 in Pennsylvania. In an effort to raise awareness, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center will observe Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. Starting the evening of Sunday, April 1, the Medical Center’s signature Blue Crescent will be lit up in blue each night for a week to encourage awareness and prevention of child abuse. Also, from April 1 to 14 or until "picked" by hospital visitors, a volunteer-planted "pinwheel garden" will be on display near the Medical Center’s North Entrance (Heart and Vascular Institute Entrance). Prevent Child Abuse Pennsylvania promotes the pinwheel as a symbol of a carefree childhood, and its parent organization, Prevent Child Abuse America, is encouraging the planting of “pinwheel gardens” across the nation to increase focus on prevention efforts. These initiatives build on other recent efforts including the December launch of the Penn State Hershey Center for the Protection of Children, the focus of which will be the study, research, prevention and treatment of child abuse. The Center eventually will be home to hundreds of child abuse experts from across Penn State.

Penn State Schuylkill
Two Penn State Schuylkill students and instructor Ron Kelly will give a presentation entitled “The Effects Sexual Assault Crimes Have on College Campuses” on Saturday, April 14, at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College, during the Penn State Behrend-Sigma Xi Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishment Conference. The conference is sponsored by Penn State Behrend and the Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of Sigma Xi.

Penn State University Park
A Take Back the Night walk is scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 18, and at 1 p.m. April 19, a Walk a Mile in Her Shoes will step off at Boucke Building. For more Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month events at University Park, see http://live.psu.edu/story/58814.

Penn State York
In partnership with the York County Child Advocacy Center, the HD FS Club is offering the “Stewards of Children,” a nationally recognized, evidenced-based program to teach adults how to identify and respond to concerns about sexual abuse. The program is being offered for a second time on campus at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 4. For more information about this program email Catherine Moon, instructor in human development and family studies, at cmoon@psu.edu.

Penn College
By making a $5 donation at College Health Services, those who participate in Wear Jeans Day in support of Sexual Assault Awareness on Friday, April 13, will support the work of Wise Options. A program of the Williamsport YWCA, Wise Options offers a 24-hour emergency hotline, safe housing and services for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, and provides educational resources on awareness and prevention. During this countywide event, Wise Options wants to reduce confusion associated with sexual violence. Throughout the month of April, information will be available on a table in the Bush Campus Center lobby.

Also, Bob Hall, owner and founder of Learning to Live with Conflict Inc., will present “Nonviolent Sexuality: Making Peace with Passion” at 8 p.m. Monday, April 16, at Penn’s Inn, Bush Campus Center. This engaging program addresses the sensitive issues of alcohol and sexual violence on campus in an entertaining and interactive manner. The Penn College Sexual Assault Education Committee welcomes Hall again as the featured speaker during the program “Ending the Battle of the Sexes and the Culture Wars: Making Peace with Passion and Healing Relationships” at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, at the Campus Center, room 207. According to Hall, the time has come for a permanent ceasefire in the battle of the sexes and the culture wars. The program will offer an engaging conversation as attendees unpack some longstanding and entrenched conflicts over human sexuality and the rights and responsibilities of all human beings toward each other, in transforming fights into lessons and healing deep wounds.

For additional Penn State news about Sexual Assault Awareness Month and available resources, click on the image above. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated May 24, 2019