In absence of VCU resource center, design class raises awareness

Next week, while in the midst of
exams and final projects, students might
notice some hard-hitting posters around
campus.

As part of the RISE-NOW campaign,
the posters and attached pamphlets
work to raise awareness about domestic
violence and sexual assault and educate
the community about the resources available
for people who have experienced
such crimes.

VCU is the only university of its size
in the state without a sexual assault and
domestic violence resource center. “Design
Rebels,” a class taught through the
graphic design department that is open
to all majors, aims to fill the hole.

Design Rebels is a class that not
only makes you feel like you can make
a difference in the community, said
Vickie Misch, a senior graphic design
major – it lets you figure out how to
do so yourself.

“Design rebels should be a required
class,” Misch said.

In the semester-long class, students
evaluate ethical issues that designers and
people operating within the media face,
and then create a project that addresses
one of those issues.

“(The class is) kind of a crossroads
between being an activist and designer,”
said Cassandra Ellison, a senior graphic
design major and women’s studies
minor.

When students were asked to come
up with an idea for a project that would
help the community, Ellison wanted
to re-open the VCU Resource Center.
The class selected her project as one
it would pursue for the rest of the
semester. During brainstorming sessions,
the class came up with the RISE-NOW
campaign.

RISE stands for “reaching individual
survival empowerment.” The campaign
was a way to bring the resources to the
people who need them, Ellison said.

“(We wanted to emphasize that) there
is no victim; there (are) only survivors,”
she said.

At a school as large as VCU, the number
of people affected by sexual assault
or domestic violence is shockingly large,
Ellison said. While doing research for the
VCU Resource Center, she came across
statistics that showed one in four college
women is the victim of rape. This means
that out of the 30,000 students at VCU,
7,500 have been raped or assaulted.

The class chose posters for the campaign
because it seemed like the most
effective way to get its message into the
community. Plus, students had only $100
to spend on the project.

“We had big ideas when starting this,”
Misch said.

With their budget, the nine students
working on the project created four
different posters that will be distributed
on campus, around Richmond and in
local high schools next week. Each of
the 300 posters holds 20 pamphlets
that list local resources. The pamphlets
are removable so people don’t have to
stand in front of a poster copying down
numbers and addresses.

“Being discreet was our main goal,”
Ellison said.

The RISE-NOW campaign also
features a Web site, rise/now.com,
which features both local and national
resources. The campaign wanted to do
more than just provide resources and
wanted to act as a discussion-starter
for the community. RISE-NOW hopes
to raise awareness and break down the
wall of silence that commonly surrounds
crimes such as domestic violence and
sexual assault.

“The numbers are major,” Ellison said.
“(But) people aren’t talking about it.”

—

Sexual Assault

On college campuses, one in four
women have been raped.

84 percent of those women knew
their assailant.

57 percent of those rapes happened
on a date.

One in six American women have
been the victim of an attempted or
completed sexual assault.

Less than 39 percent of sexual assaults
are reported to the authorities.

Around the world, at least one
woman in every three has been
beaten, coerced into sex or
otherwise abused in her lifetime.

statistics found at: theredflagcampaign.
org, rain.org, takebackthenews.
org, endabuse.org