April is national Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Mississippi State is sponsoring a series of related events to benefit the campus and local communities.
Sponsored by the university's Student Counseling Services, the programs include:
--Denim Jean Drive, through April 15. SCS, whose office is located at 101 Lee Hall, will be collecting denim pants to be displayed on the Drill Field and later donated to Safe Haven Inc., a family shelter;
--"Take Back the Night," the 13th, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Foster Ballroom of the Colvard Student Union. A peaceful rally and campus march to protest against rape and other forms of violence against women and men; and
--Denim Day, the 16th, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the Drill Field. Part of an international awareness campaign begun in 1999 to protest an Italian Supreme Court decision to overturn a rape conviction because the female victim was wearing jeans. (The judge ruled there was no way the victim could have been assaulted since she would have had to assist the suspect in removing her jeans.)
For additional information on the 2009 campus observance of Sexual Assault Month, contact the SCS office at 662-325-2091.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.
