Students want to stop on-campus sexual assault with It’s On Us campaign
Gwen Titley/Calkins News Service
Vice President Joe Biden addresses a crowd about the importance of preventing sexual assault on campus at the University of Pittsburgh’ Petersen Events Center in Oakland on Tuesday.
Actor Matt McGorry speaks to a crowd at the University of Pittsburgh's Petersen Event Center on Tuesday morning before Vice President Joe Biden's arrival. The vice president traveled to Pittsburgh to talk about the importance of preventing sexual assault on college campuses.
There aren’t many issues that bring a mayor, a governor, a vice president, a college mascot and an actor into the same room.
One stark topic did just that: campus sexual assault. Vice President Joe Biden visited the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland on Tuesday in support of It’s On Us, a federal program aimed at stopping on-campus sexual violence.
University faculty and student leaders also welcomed Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, Gov. Tom Wolf and actor Matt McGorry, famous for his role on Netflix’s “Orange Is The New Black” and ABC’s “How to Get Away With Murder.”
McGorry has been vocal about his support of It’s On Us in interviews and on social media. He and Biden both discussed the need of a “culture” change on college campuses that ends the silence that surrounds sexual assault.
The event felt more like a pep rally than a meeting of government leaders as the Pitt marching band, dance team and cheerleaders led the crowded Petersen Event Center lobby in cheers of “P-I-T-T.” Lest he be forgotten, Roc, the Pitt Panther mascot, danced on stage, launching T-shirts to the sea of blue-and-gold-clad students, faculty and community members.
When posed with the question of why they attended the event, most students simply said: Joe Biden. The vice president’s popularity among the students was unmistakable. Some members of the crowd had the opportunity to shake hands with him after his speech, much to their excitement. One student, ecstatic, screamed to her friends “his hands are so soft” as she left the event.
“I wanted him to run for president,” said Pitt senior Paige Anderson, who stood in line Tuesday morning just to get a standing spot inside the building.
But students also admitted they were brought to the event for more than just a glimpse at the out-going VP.
“We deal with (sexual assault) every day,” said junior Twesha Mitra. She and Anderson said it’s something all of their friends have been faced with, some of whom are victims of on-campus assault.
Throughout the presentation was the underlying reality that many of the students present were victims of rape and sexual assault. That reality isn’t skewed because of the event’s topic; 1 in 5 women on college campuses are survivors of sexual assault. The statistic was repeated by all of the speakers.
Aderin Falana, a senior, was happy to see that recognized in such a big way.
“I’ve had friends who have been assault victims,” she said. The violence often goes unreported. Falana thinks the public’s outlook on campus sexual assault is starting to change, hopefully making the crime less intimidating for victims to report.
During his speech, Biden passionately called for a future where a victim of sexual assault doesn’t wonder what he or she did wrong.
That resonated with Falana. “It’s important not to victim blame,” she said.
Peduto, Wolf, McGorry and Biden all spoke directly to men in the audience, asking them to hold their classmates, teammates and fraternity brothers accountable and to a higher standard. The men in the room were asked not only to treat others respectively and to only engage in consensual sexual activity, but to stop the violence that happens around them.
Derek Arnold, a sophomore, said he wants to engage in the discussion about sexual assault because its something that happens around him all the time.
“It’s a lot more pervasive than people think,” he said.
Chad Boronky, also a sophomore, agreed and said it’s important for male students to live up to the standards they set for themselves.
According to”It’s On Us 1 in 20 college male students are assaulted while attending college.
The crowd was made up of more than just Pitt students and faculty. Grace Coleman, executive director of Crisis Center North, wanted to hear what the speakers had to say about sexual violence. Comments made by Biden reminded Coleman of when she was a student in the 1980s, when summits and projects like It’s On Us didn’t exist.
“There is a change,” she said.
Pitt is one of 500 other college campuses to take the It’s On Us pledge to stop sexual assault and violence. According to It’s On Us PA, more than 12,800 students were sexually assaulted in 2014 while enrolled at post-secondary institutions in Pennsylvania.