Stand up

As she stood in the chilly April weather, senior Kelly Hannon wore number 82.\n“Wearing a number hits you more,” she said. “Your number represents someone on campus that experienced a \npersonal issue.”\nHannon’s number went beyond mathematics to represent the estimated 50 to 88 students who have been sexually assaulted since the start of the school year. \nWearing black T-shirts with numbers pinned to them, about 80 students stood by the red clock between Woodburn Hall and Ballantine Hall on Thursday shortly before noon to raise awareness for sexual assault and demand a world without rape and violence, Hannon said.\nFriends of the Middle Way House organized the event, “Stand Up and Be Counted.” The group offers a tie between students and Middle Way House, allowing the students the opportunity to become more involved in ending sexual assault on campus.\nMiddle Way House is a center seeking to end domestic violence and sexual assault in the lives of women and children by sponsoring activities and programs to achieve individual and social change.\n“Not enough people take the effort to make the issue aware to the population,” Hannon said. “Because such issues happen on personal levels, no one sees sexual assault. As a result, people don’t know how much \nit happens.”\nFriends of the Middle Way House president and senior Holly Spitz said the group took the IU-affiliated reports from Middle House statistic reports in order to calculate the number of sexual assaults on campus.\nThe reports stated there were14 sexual assaults involving IU students. However, some cases of sexual assault aren’t reported. Spitz said her calculations determined that the numbers 50 to 88 represent the estimated number of victims at IU who have been sexually assaulted in the past year. \nDespite the cold weather, Spitz said she thought the event was successful.\n“I really do think people walked away knowing something different than before,” she said. \nWith the recent media attention being brought to sexual assault victims retracting statements, Spitz said she felt the event was especially important.\n“With people lying, it makes it that much harder for the real victims,” Spitz said. “What we have to do as a community is when someone does come to say they believe they have been sexually assaulted, the best thing to do is believe them without jumping to conclusions of, ‘Are you sure about this?’”\nOne of the main points of the event was to address how friends can help other friends and survivors of sexual assault.\n“We as a community should react to such violence by not victim-blaming,” Spitz said. “It is the attackers’ choice for the violence and not the victims.”\nJunior Isabelle Gerard, a participant, said she believes one of the biggest problems is that so many victims don’t feel comfortable coming forward.\n“So many remain silent for various reasons,” she said. “Some are scared of what peers think and what will happen to them after they go and speak with someone. … A lot of times I don’t think the victims think there is anyone for them to talk to, so one of our main goals is to let students know what Middle Way offers.” \nHannon said that the importance of “standing up” Thursday was to look at the numbers and realize the significance.\n“Standing alone to see that one person is a representative of assault is one thing,” Hannon said. “But seeing all the numbers together really makes a big effect.”\nAs participants walked away from the red clock Thursday, Spitz felt the power amongst the group who stood.\n“It was really amazing to see people out there to learn, especially since sexual assault is not a fun topic to get people to talk about,” Spitz said. “It was nice to have support out there for the survivors everywhere.”