UW-Madison's Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment will launch an ad campaign this month to stress the importance of receiving consent from sexual partners, especially when alcohol is involved.
The campaign's tagline will be ""Some things should never be blurry. Ask for consent every time."" The ads will be posted in Madison metro buses as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
According to PAVE chair Ally Cruickshank, the campaign will educate students on alcohol's effects in impairing judgment, and ways to prevent and report crime. The campaign will also explain the concept of consent between sexual partners.
""Consent is a freely given ‘yes,' not the absence of a ‘no,'"" Cruickshank said. ""Consent is most clear when it is communicated verbally, but it can also be through the overall actions.""
Carmen Hotvedt, PAVE's faculty advisor, said it is important to stress awareness and action about alcohol-induced sexual assault.
""[Drinking] is never an excuse to take advantage of someone else's body, whether or not [that person] is drinking,"" Hotvedt said. ""Consent is a really simple concept … people should be able to ask for it and then respect someone else's boundaries.""
The student group will use their resources to fund the ad campaign. However, if the campaign is successful, the group expects to receive funding from a grant the university received in December.
Katie Simmons, PAVE's media advocate, said though the campaign focuses only on alcohol-related sexual assault, the organization intends to educate students about sexual assault on a broader scale throughout April.
""We are trying to get people aware about this issue and try to change the way the student body communicates with each other about those kind of topics,"" she said.
PAVE will hand out stickers, posters, bottle openers and keychains with the campaign's taglines to increase the efforts of the bus system advertisements.
The group will rate the success of the campaign by surveying students in the upcoming months. Results will determine if the views and behaviors of students have changed because of the campaign.
For more information on PAVE, students can visit uwpave.rso.wisc.edu.
