Content Warning: This article will discuss topics of sexual assault and rape
Revolution Against Rape (RAR) is seeking to improve the condition of the sexually assaulted victims-survivors at the University of Connecticut.
The demands included: timely investigations, Student Health and Wellness (SHAW) to provide more services and staff, an online system for no-contact agreements and the university’s Blue Light System to be tested monthly.
RAR’s mission is to foster awareness of sexual assault and end sexual violence through education, activism, reform and policy change to both the university and the surrounding community.
Hannah Pierson, president of RAR, said the university can do a lot more to support victim-survivors than it currently has done.
“The university should focus more on the victim-survivors rather than the university’s reputation,” Pierson said.
“[UConn] still see themselves as very trauma-informed,” Pierson said, “but the experiences that I heard from people just do not give off that.”
She further explained that the university should listen to the students, RAR and victim-survivors to improve.
UConn President Radenka Maric launched a Task Force to Combating Sexual Violence and Supporting Our Students in Feb. 2022.
The task force is charged with evaluating how the university educates, prevents and responds to sexual violence, according to the website.
“The university should focus more on the victim-survivors rather than the university’s reputation.”
Hannah Pierson, president of Revolution Against Rape
The task force met on six occasions to review and develop recommendations. These recommendations included developing a new system for organizing information, improving existing resources like adding language to the university’s Title IX, promoting the LiveSafe app and increasing awareness of no-contact directives.
RAR’s solution is to bring outside sources to help the situation like a non-profit organization. This way the university can focus on the investigation while the non-profit can help and advocate for the victim-survivor.
Pierson is a third-year nursing student with a minor in human development and family studies. She got involved in the club during her second semester at the university. Pierson was interested in getting involved in an activism organization.
RAR is a student organization founded in January of 2012 after a Slut Walk protest in the fall of 2011 at the university. The organization is not affiliated with any national organization and is local to the Storrs campus.
The students felt that they needed a space to foster awareness and aimed to end sexual assaults on campus and in the surrounding communities.
The club has planned on holding many protests throughout the year. They planned to have their annual March Against Victim Blaming in April 2023. Spring 2023 club meetings are held weekly on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at the Student Union.
What does add more language to the University’s Title IX mean? It’s a federal law. What language?
They have to shoehorn defunding the police into everything.