A group of students posted two flyers around campus on Nov. 5, advertising their student-led, anti-rape event designed for a project in a peer health education class.
The flyers, one of which was titled “Top 5 Ways to Get Away with Rape,” were posted on vari- ous surfaces such as glass doors and in bathrooms, which are prohibited places by KSU posting guidelines.
KSU Posting Guidelines in the student handbook state that, “Flyers are prohibited on any surface except for bulletin boards.”
“I saw the posters around 11:30 a.m. in the student center,” said Angie Daniels, an officer of the Non-Normative Anti-Assimilationist student organization at KSU. “[They were] posted on the windows, glass doors, on walls and all over the rotunda.”
Sabrina Petusevsky, admin- istrative specialist and adjunct instructor of health promotion and physical education, said her students created the flyers as advertisement for a class proj- ect. Petusevsky said it was her student’s responsibility to follow KSU posting guidelines.
“The intention of the flyers were to show the irony in how we have sexual assault prevention efforts in this society,” Petusevsky said. “Even though a lot of times society will blame the victim for sexual assault.”
Petusevsky said the group assignment entailed hosting a public health outreach event on campus and the students were required to plan, implement and evaluate their plan.
Petusevsky said her students decided to advertise their event this way after being inspired by similar flyers used on Clemson University campus, but said the intention was not to upset anyone. “Sexual assault is very hard to market,” Petusevsky said.
Petusevsky saw the flyers before they were posted by students and said she thought the flyers would get attention.
“They were trying to mock the backwards thinking about sexual assault and how it’s such a double standard,” Petusevsky said.
“Rape is not something you want to be provocative or ironic,” said Coordinator for KSU’s Women’s Resource and Interpersonal Violence Prevention Center Emily Ramirez. “You would not put a flyer out that said ‘Top five ways to get away with murder’ or ‘Top five ways to get away with child molestation’… It’s not funny, it’s really hurtful.”
Ramirez met with the students responsible for these flyers about a month ago to discuss information for their event, but did not see the flyers prior to their posting. She said there’s a difference between marketing an event and getting attention, and being offensive.
“I didn’t go [to the event] because I didn’t want survivors to associate the Women’s Resource Center with these flyers,” Ramirez said. “Because if I’m a survivor of sexual assault, I’m not going to go somewhere that would put out material that I find hurtful or triggering.”
On Nov. 12, Ramirez held an open meeting with students and members of the Student Taskforce for Interpersonal Violence to discuss the flyers and their effects.
“They weren’t able to get their message of education out because people wanted to un- derstand why they thought this was a good idea,” Ramirez said.
“The consensus on the reaction to the flyers is one of being hurt and offended. Did these student intend this reaction, no,” Ramirez said. “They wanted to have a sexual assault awareness event.”
“It’s hard to do any sort of repair work when you don’t know who’s seen these. Who left school in tears,” Ramirez said. “We don’t know what the collateral damage is.”
Ramirez said she is looking into the possibility of starting a non-clinical survivor support group on campus where stu- dents can find community with other survivors in a safe space.
The Women’s Resource and Interpersonal Violence Preven- tion Center is open to students Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located on the third floor of Kennesaw Hall in room 3431. For more information on about WRC, visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/KsuWom- ensResourceCenter, website at kennesaw.edu/studentsuc- cessservices/WRC, or call (770) 794-7858.