[The following is a sponsored letter from PAVE-UW]

[Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault]

This month, we at Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment invite you to honor Sexual Assault Awareness Month by joining us at our events and engagements for the whole University of Wisconsin campus community. The featured speakers for April include The New York Times Best-Selling Author Chanel Miller and Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky.

Events this month will feature ways to learn about sexual assault in the legal system and on our campus with actionable steps to make change as well as build a stronger community on campus that rejects all forms of violence and celebrates our humanity.

The first week we will be going to a talk with Dr. Kate Walsh to learn about the current state of violence on our campus and areas of improvement for the university. We will learn about gaps in service and how they can be addressed. The Anti-Violence Student Coalition will meet to continue its work to end violence on campus. Friday, April 9, we will be celebrating some local artists at the first PAVE Arts showcase. This showcase will be a part of PAVE-UW’s April fundraiser for UNIDOS, a Madison-based nonprofit that provides resources for survivors of gender-based violence and supports healthy family systems in the Latinx communities of Dane and its surrounding counties.

The second week we will be attending an event with The New York Times’ Best-Selling Author of “Know My Name,” Chanel Miller. Then, we will attend a Change is Brewing discussion with the APIDA Student Center to talk about the fetishization of Asian women and the emasculation of Asian men. Next, we will join Justice Jill Karofsky to learn about our rights and her work supporting survivors. Thursday, April 15, we will be playing Drag Queen Bingo with Bob the Drag Queen, hosted by the Open House Learning Community. We will wrap up the week watching and discussing the documentary, “Hunting Ground,” which addresses the alarming rates of sexual assault on college campuses.

Our third week will consist of a Community Resource Panel event for people to learn about how our community supports survivors every day. They will be answering all of YOUR questions! Bring all of your friends and help us build a more informed and supported community.

For the last week, we will be bringing the community together for our Denim Day March to protest the sexual and intimate partner violence public health crisis on our campus. THERE IS TOO MUCH VIOLENCE ON OUR CAMPUS TO BE COMFORTABLE. Join us as we take to the streets and march to the State Capitol to back the night and demand real change in our campus community. If you are attending, wear a mask and denim.

We encourage people to choose at least one event to attend! To stay up to date will all of the events going on, follow us on Instagram @paveuw or on Twitter @PAVE_UW.

In Power,

Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment – UW (PAVE–UW)