Over 100 students took part in signing the ‘It’s On Us’ pledge in the Wellness and Recreation Center (WRC) as an ongoing effort to promote sexual assault prevention Monday. 

The organization, which was born from the White House as part of their Sexual Assault Prevention Task Force campaign, helps citizens, primarily college students, learn about how to take action in a violent situation and how to become more than a bystander or witness. 

The campaign’s main focus is educating students on how to react if they or their friends see or hear a violent situation. 

“I think it is a good cause,” said Lauran Perez, senior biotechnology major. “I honestly think sexual assault is an issue on a lot of campuses.”

According to Shawna Haislet, UNI’s Health and Promotions Coordinator, approximately 90 percent of all sexual assault cases involve alcohol. She mentioned that it is worth visualizing the connection between the “mental consequences and other unsafe decisions.” 

The pledge signing that took place in the WRC was the second for UNI’s It’s On Us campaign with a previous event occurring in late October. Between the two events, they have collected several thousands of ‘clicks’ on their site. A click is measured by the number of times the pledge button had been pressed on their site. 

Students may be under the misconception that a UNI Alert is sent every time a sexual assault is reported. 

“Sexual assault is a problem even on our campus,” Haislet said. “The only way students would know if a student has been sexually assaulted would be if they saw a UNI Alert but those are not the only cases. UNI Alerts are only reported if it is a threat to other students on campus.”

Haislet also mentioned that UNI’s Victims Services Advocate, Joan Thompson, does a lot of work with students who have been sexually assaulted. Many students wouldn’t know about these crimes because they didn’t fit the proper criteria to become a UNI Alert. 

The overall pledge process takes a little over a minute to complete; students are then given the option to promote their pledge on social media so others may see what they pledged to do. 

“Sexual assault should be ended everywhere,” said Joe Franklin, sophomore athletic training major. “I believe it is one of my duties to help stop and to help educate to others what it is about.”