The I Love Consent program’s one year anniversary event took place on March 15 during Bengal Pause in Ketchum 113. The program was sponsored by Equity and Campus Diversity, the Weigel Health Promotions, and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.

February 2015 was the launch of the I Love Consent Campaign. A prevention campaign against unlawful sex, rape, or sexual violence. It also educates students on what consent is, and what isn’t consent. Throughout the year, the I Love Consent Campaign holds workshops to help get these points across.

Before the event started, audience members, including professors and students, were asked to sign a pledge that they attended the event.

Diversity Program Coordinator Jason Parker started the one year anniversary with a small speech introducing the four graduate students who then began a presentation. The presentation covered different topics throughout its length, and it started with what consent is and is not.

Graduate student Monet Lewis explained that “consent is full permission to do something. Both participants have to be sober, aware, and okay with it. They cannot be silent, and it has to be a ‘yes’ for it to be okay.”

Afterward, the audience was allowed to ask questions about consent. One audience member asked:

“Should we take precautions on how we dress to try and avoid a sexual assault?”

Parker quickly responded with:

“It shouldn’t matter what they wear, because people can wear whatever they want. We need to tell the assaulters that they’re wrong, and the victims that we’re here for them. Not the other way around.”

The presentation concluded with how the mainstream media influences a victim-shaming society. From the way certain song lyrics are, to how movies are portrayed and to how the news explains these topics. The presenters went over it. The audience also gave several examples of how some songs subconsciously give awful messages without the music listeners even realizing it. This can lead to young children hearing these songs, and subconsciously thinking what the song’s messages are without even realizing it.

After the presentation concluded, the presenters asked the audience if they had any questions, and how the presentation was. The audience responded very positively, and gave a round of applause. The presenters then said that they had cake and beverages to celebrate the one year anniversary of the I Love Consent Campaign.

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