Alpha Sigma Phi teams with The Center of Women and Gender and SAAVI to raise awareness about sexual

In an effort to raise awareness about sexual assault on college campuses, Alpha Sigma Phi joined The Center of Women and Gender club and SAAVI in their second annual viewing of The Hunting Ground on Thursday at Utah State University.

The viewing of the Hunting Ground was followed by a panel discussion featuring University counselors, a student intern representing the fraternities, and members of the SAAVI club, or Sexual Assault & Anti-Violence Information club at Utah State.

“It’s important to our fraternity because one of our pillars is silence,” said Ryker Moore, the president of Alpha Sigma Phi at Utah State University. “Each of our pillars is associated with a philanthropy and silence is associated with RAINN. That’s why we got involved. Last year SAAVI and the Women and Gender club only had eight people there. This year I worked with my brothers and the other two organizations to really get a lot of people involved so that we could make a difference.”

Through Facebook, advertising on campus and word of mouth they raised attendance from eight the previous year, to nearly 50. The audience was informed with national statistics as they watched the documentary and then were able to ask personal questions to a panel of USU students and faculty that were willing to help as local advocates.

“The panel’s main goal was to help people realize we have resources available on campus to help victims,” said Nic Siniscalchi, one of the panel members. “I hope that people see that this is a problem and that we need to change how we react to sexual assault. I hope that this will help people change from blaming to supporting victims and survivors of sexual assault.”

Most of the questions asked by the audience were from students who wanted to help a friend that had been assaulted but didn’t know where to start.

“It’s important to just be willing to listen and help people,” Moore said. “Sometimes all they need is an ear. That’s what gives victims the courage to seek help from counselors or talk to the police.”

The documentary that was shown, The Hunting Ground, is about two college students’ struggle to get the University of North Carolina to take disciplinary action against their perpetrators. As the students got media attention, they realized college officials nationwide do not take appropriate action against rapists. College officials would rather save the reputations of the universities they represent instead of caring for the students they represent. The magnitude of the problem only grew as more and more students reached out to them to share their side of the story.

The event also served as a fundraiser for RAINN, the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, as all admittance fees will be donated to the foundation.