Members of the community gathered in the Student Center to decorate rocks, raising awareness about sexual assault. Ruby Go | Washtenaw Voice
Engineering student Meghan Robinson (left) and nursing student Olivia Obya decorate painted rocks for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Ruby Go | Washtenaw Voice
Community decorates rocks, leaves messages around campus in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month
By Willow Symonds
Staff Writer
Every April, anyone on the Student Center’s second floor may notice pairs of jeans and T-shirts pinned to a decorated board. Painted over the fabric are statistics taken from RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): “1 in 10 rape victims are male,” “20% of Black women are raped in their lifetime,” and “every 68 seconds, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.”
But the display isn’t designed to scare those passing by.
WCC’s Student Resource Center annually partners with SafeHouse Center, a shelter for abuse and assault survivors, to put together the board along with a booth in front. The table offers fliers in multiple languages for SafeHouse Center resources and handbooks for sexual assault survivors. They also tie turquoise ribbons – Sexual Assault Awareness Month’s symbol – to trees and poles, adding splashes of color around campus.
This school year, though, WCC’s Student Resource Center coordinators and the SafeHouse Center made raising awareness for sexual assault more interactive among those on campus.
Events like the community decorating rocks “get people talking,” said Whitney Carlson, a SafeHouse Center intern who started doing outreach events at WCC this school year.
“They also spread awareness for the SafeHouse Center, because not everyone knows about us.”
SafeHouse Center intern Whitney Carlson poses by the shelter’s Sexual Assault Awareness booth in the Student Center. Ruby Go | Washtenaw Voice
On Wednesday, April 5, over 50 students, staff, and faculty decorated pre-painted rocks in the Student Center, in view of the SafeHouse Center display. The Student Resource Center supplied craft materials like mini pom-poms and felt iconography, but many participants chose paint markers. They wrote slogans to support survivors and denounce rape culture, such as “Consent matters,” “No means NO,” and “Your Voice has Power.”
The activity doesn’t just include those who decorated rocks. It includes anyone who finds these rocks hidden around campus buildings, including a note card encouraging finders to take a picture of the rock and share on social media.
Decorators could either hand their rocks to the event organizers, such as project & data technician Carol Tinkle, or could keep their art, whether for themselves or to find their own place to hide it on campus. Engineering student Meghan Robinson and nursing student Olivia Obya kept their rocks, at least for now.
Last school year, Robinson hid rocks around campus to brighten people’s spirits. She had painted phrases such as ‘Be Happy’ and doodled symbols similar to those on her rock for the Sexual Assault Awareness Month event.
“I just really like peace signs. … I also added ribbons for sexual assault awareness,” Robinson said about her rock. “I hope [people on campus] get to pick it up and smile.”Obya took inspiration from Robinson when colorfully decorating her own rock with the words “Peace and Love.”
“I imagine what you want when you’re going through something traumatic … is love and support from other people,” Obya said.
Engineering student Meghan Robinson draws peace signs and SAAM (Sexual Assault Awareness Month) ribbons on her rock. Ruby Go | Washtenaw Voice
Robinson noted an incident last school year serious enough for WCCAlert to email all students, faculty, and staff the day the survivor reported to the Public Safety Department. The email described the suspect’s appearance and provided safety tips for those on campus.
“One thing [the administration and faculty are] already doing, to some extent, is making sure campus is a safe place,” Robinson said. “But I do think they should handle these situations better and offer more support.”
In the afternoon of October 19, 2021, an unidentified person inappropriately grabbed a student in Community Park, according to WCC’s Public Safety Department’s monthly police log. This fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct case was closed with no leads.
Deputy Chief Jamie Zecman joined WCC’s Public Safety Department a month after that incident. She now teaches Rape Aggression Defense, a training program she also taught in the City of Clio’s Police Department. The R.A.D. program is currently for female faculty and staff – 24 women signed up for four days of 10 hour sessions – though Zecman hopes to start sessions for students as well.
She also recommends the WCC Safe app, which can come in handy for those often on campus. The Campus Resources tab shows a variety of services WCC offers, including Sexual Assault Help. App users can also “Friend Walk” by sharing their map location with one of their contacts, report a tip to the Public Safety Department, and contact emergency numbers.“If [the assault] happened on campus, they can always call 911 and we’ll get the message, as the police will dispatch us,” Zecman said. “They can also call the Public Safety Department’s non-emergency number (734-973-3411). Sometimes people report them days, months, years later. It can vary how old these calls are.”
She advises students who know someone who’s been sexually assaulted to “just be supportive. Try and encourage them to come to the police, but that’s up to the survivor.”Zecman recommends the Counseling Center for those wanting someone to listen or to reach for more resources. Usually, faculty request care packages for students, but fellow students can also contact WCC’s CARE Team, a collection of trained staff members, to help their peers.
The first painted rock of the event sits on a pile of craft feathers. Rocks like these can be found around campus by anyone walking by. Ruby Go | Washtenaw Voice
Laura Chodoroff | Washtenaw Voice
