Monday, April 13, 2009

It's Game time, baby!

By now you already know about No Woman Left Behind but if not, scroll toward the bottom of this blog to read all about it. For now what you need to is when and where our wonderful event will be. So here are the details:

What: No Woman Left Behind panel with Q&A session, with launch party to follow

Where: MU Ballroom, Oregon State campus

When: Monday (tonight!) April 13th at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:30. There's no cost to get in!

Who: Lauren Chief Elk, Lauren Bryeans and April Grolle will share their story of what it was like to step in and save a young woman being gang raped.

What to bring: Nothing besides yourself a giant group of friends! Oh and bring $1 to buy a NWLB wristband -- they glow in the dark! -- if you don't have one already.

Questions? Concerns? Call the Women's Center at 541-737-3186. They'll fill you in.

Can't wait to see everyone!

Monday, April 6, 2009

The big day is almost here!

And no, I'm not talking about a wedding.

I'm talking, of course, about the big program we've been talking about putting on since July. One week, baby! (First though: Oh my God we have so much to do before then.)

I'll post the flier on here tomorrow when I'm at work, but this is what you need to know:

In March of 2007, Lauren Chief Elk, Lauren Bryeans and April Grolle rescued a young woman who was being gang raped at a college party. No one else at the party of more than 50 people offered to help the women. It was shocking, disgusting and most of all, alarming. From this experience, the No Woman Left Behind campaign was born. Come listen to Lauren, Lauren and April's story on MONDAY APRIL 13TH IN THE MU BALLROOM AT OREGON STATE AT 8 PM. This will entice you: there will be free food and punch and there's an outside chance we'll all be on TV if 20/20 comes to film. (Emphasis on "outside chance.")

More info -- and poster and pictures -- to come!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

NWLB: Our Mission, and What's New

It occurs to me that perhaps we should lay out -- in the most clear terms as possible -- the mission of our campaign. It's pretty simple: We want to end campus sexual assault by advocating for women looking out for women. We are all about prevention. This does NOT mean that we advocate violence of any sort because we absolutely DO NOT.

When we say it is your responsibility to step in if you see someone being taken advantage of, we do not mean to act violently. We want to stop assault, not create more of it. We very much believe that education leads to prevention, so we're here to educate and prevent. Won't you help us?

I'm happy to report that we had a very successful meeting yesterday with Carrie Giese, the sexual assault prevention coordinator and educator on campus, as well as Linda Anderson of Sexual Assault Support Services, Alisha DeVogele from ASOSU, Lauren Chief Elk and many more. We're in the process of planning our big event but until we get some more details ironed out I'm not going to write about it ... Just keep your fingers crossed for us because if it all works out like we're hoping we're going to ROCK this campus, and probably surrounding campuses.

That's all for now, but stay tuned ...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

NWLB: The History

Hello, and welcome to the website that can help YOU end campus sexual violence. We know, we know, doesn't that sound a tad ambitious? Well, we like to reach for the stars.

We are the No Woman Left Behind campaign at Oregon State University, a movement dedicated to ending campus sexual assault. As you'll see from our "About Us" section, one in four women (1 in 4) will be sexually assaulted in their time on college campuses. We think this number is much too high, so we're going to do everything we can to educate our community and surrounding communities about this horrific statistic.

It starts with you. Come into the OSU Women's Center -- located in the little blue house next to the library -- and buy a glow-in-the-dark NWLB bracelet. They're only $1 and our goal is to see them all over campus. Don't live in Corvallis and want some bracelets sent to you? Email us at NoWomanLeftBehind.OSU@gmail.com and we'll get you taken care of.

NWLB was first started at Sacramento State University when students there heard about a disturbing instance that took place at a party. The idea for No Woman Left Behind started in the summer of 2007 after reading about the De Anza college rape case. Several members of the De Anza college baseball team allegedly assaulted a young girl at a party. Three women from the De Anza soccer team -- Lauren Chief Elk, April Grolle and Lauren Breayans -- intervened, fighting off the players, and brought the girl to the hospital for treatment. No one at the party of more than 50 people offered to help.

It is both shocking and saddening to hear that not only did a house full of people ignore a young, drunk woman locked in a room with many males, but that when it was clear there was a sexual assault situation going on and three women intervened, the entire party still ignored the situation and gave no assistance. One woman told a reporter after the party that she did not think of the situation as a "rape case." This is part of the problem.

Sac State created the bandwagon first, distributing bracelets and bringing the three women to campus to speak. Oregon State got involved with NWLB when a Women's Center staff member met Lauren Chief Elk in the summer of 2008 at OSU student orientation. Now we at OSU are committed to partnering with schools across the nation to make this a huge campaign.

We'll use this site as our official kick-off point to let you know what the latest events are with NWLB (we've got some big plans, let us tell you) and what you can do to help. In the meantime, get caught up with our cause by reading about what happened afterward to the three women who intervened, including the ill after-effects. They displayed a courage shown by few and for that, we are all fortunate to know them. Now let's share their story.