Raising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters (RAISE), in collaboration with REACT to FILM, will present a video screening of “The Hunting Ground” 7:00 p.m. today in the Fine Arts Building.
From the Emmy-award winning writer and director Kirby Dick and Emmy-award winning producer Amy Zeiring, “The Hunting Ground” is a documentary that discusses rape culture on college campuses.
Neufeld said that React to Film, a non-profit organization that includes a network of college chapters geared towards educating, engaging and inspiring students through film, reached out to RAISE.
RAISE is a student led group that delivers presentations surrounding sexual assault, relationship violence and gendered communication to residence halls, greek houses and the Bloomington community.
“IU doesn’t have a chapter for REACT to FILM, so they reached out to us to see if we would screen it since our mission deals with the same issues as the film,” Neufeld said. “It was a perfect fit.”
Jesse Scheinman, the vice president of membership development for the Inter-Fraternity Council, helped organize the event.
“Over the past year MARS (Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault)/IFC has been working closely with RAISE and their leadership team on various initiatives, awareness campaigns, training programs, etc,” Sheinman said in an email. “A few weeks ago, Karis approached me about co-sponsoring “The Hunting Ground,” and it was something that seemed to make complete sense on our end.”
Since then, Scheinman said he has been working on informing other MARS members, as well as fraternity presidents, about the event.
MARS is an organization that aims to eliminate rape and sexual assault, help those with mental health issues and people who abuse drugs and alcohol through guest speaker presentations and group discussions, in addition to service and philanthropic projects.
Neufeld said that REACT to FILM will be facilitating a Google Hangout after the screening.
“There will be other campuses that are screening the same film at the same time, and then participating in a discussion afterward,” Neufeld said.
Neufeld said that the crucial first step in remedying the problem is addressing its existence in the first place.
“Before you can change a culture, you need to create an awareness that there needs to be change,” Neufeld said.
In addition to spreading awareness, Neufeld said that the group is also focused on mobilizing students to take action on issues such as sexual assault on campus is a fundamental part of changing the culture on IU’s campus.
“We want to create that awareness and get people to understand that this is a big issue,” Neufeld said. “This is what’s happening on college campuses all across the nation.”
