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Women's Center, Avon foundation partner to raise awareness

PSA competition to take place on grounds, winner will receive cash prize

The Women’s Center has partnered with the Avon Foundation to launch a social media campaign to engage University students in the fight against gender violence. The competition challenges students to create a 30-second video public service announcement and develop a Facebook promotion that informs viewers and works to prevent gender violence around Grounds.

The winning video will be featured on the Women’s Center’s website, and the top three projects will take home a cash prize presented by the Avon Foundation, a longtime supporter of ending sexual partner violence said Claire Kaplan, director of sexual and domestic violence services at the Women’s Center.

“[The competition] is very specific about prevention — students can interpret that in a variety of a ways,” Kaplan said. “People tend to immediately think negative and sad things. The other side of violence is equality, love, the kind of things we want.”

Kaplan encouraged students to submit creative projects which were not necessarily somber.

It is estimated that 1 in 4 women over the age of 14 will be assaulted in their lifetimes, and roughly 25 percent of women will experience abuse in a relationship, though the victims of sexual violence are not exclusively female.

Chief of University Police Michael Gibson announced Monday the third report a sexual assault of the semester, all of which have been non-stranger assaults.

There are numerous support resources are available on Grounds for sexual assault, including the Office of the Dean of Students, the Women’s Center, Counseling and Psychological Services, the Sexual Assault Resource Agency and the Victim and Witness Assistance Programs.

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