Students run 5k to “SToPP” sexual assault

Elizabeth Worthington, News Editor

In an effort to engage students with issues of sexual assault on campus, SpeakUP and the Panhellenic Council partnered with the New Agenda Foundation to host a 5K walk/run on Oct. 16 titled SToPP 5K to End Campus Sexual Assault. SToPP stands for “Stop. Think. Protect your Peers” and is meant to remind students that it is in their power to combat sexual assault on college campuses, according to Liz Hammond ’18, who ran the event.

The event raised more than $500 for the New Agenda Foundation’s efforts to raise awareness of, transform behavior related to, and create a conversation around sexual assault.

The idea of the event is to “empower and educate our college students, and create awareness among families and communities on the issue of campus sexual assault. Fifty-five percent of college students who witnessed a sexual assault didn’t intervene, many because they didn’t know what to do,” President of the New Agenda Amy Siskind said. 

This was the first time the 5K was held on the University’s campus and Hammond hopes it will become an annual occurrence. Next year, Hammond intends to include prizes for the top runners and increase the number of organizations involved.

Around 60 students participated in total. Men and women from several sororities and fraternities participated to represent their respective organizations. Phi Gamma Delta had around 70 members help set up and provide course direction for the runners.

Signs with statistics about campus sexual assault were posted throughout the course. The SpeakUP peers arranged an information booth that provided resources for survivors, friends of survivors, and anyone interested in preventing incidents of assault from occurring on campus.

Events like this 5K bring people together in a way that opens up the dialogue about sexual assault and educates people about its prevalence on campuses across the nation,” Hammond said.

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