‘It’s on Us’ week shifts focus towards Greek community

By Benton McDonald

Published Oct 26, 2018

Greek students were invited to table with members of SGA Thursday. Photo courtesy: Jack Wallace

This year’s “It’s on Us” campaign to end sexual assault included a focus on Greek organizations, but an invitation to discuss awareness didn’t draw a crowd.

About 10 students attended the open forum about sexual violence hosted by Kataryna Lewyckyj, SGA’s director of sexual assault awareness.

The event was planned by junior JT Snyder, a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.

Snyder said he decided to plan the event when YouTuber Steven Crowder came to campus earlier this month and questioned the idea of rape culture.

“When we start that conversation about it [sexual violence], we’re entering into a dialogue that really needs to happen that’s not happening,” said sophomore Tanner Robinson. Photo courtesy: Jack Wallace

“Do I think it was done in the right way? No,” Snyder said. “But it has led to more conversations and I hope it leads to the right kind of conversations happening.”

The forum featured Lewyckyj asking a variety of questions to students about the culture in Greek life and the attitudes on sexual assault it creates.

Some students said the current TCU Greek culture doesn’t like to talk about sexual violence and that more people need to be held accountable.

“They don’t have time to talk about this,” Lewyckyj said. “Fraternities and sororities need to create the time to talk about it.”

This year, TCU became an official chapter of “It’s on Us”, a national organization whose goal is to end sexual assault, according to their website.

SGA sponsored activities this week that included tabling, a screening of a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses and three seminars. Graphics were created for chapters to use to promote sexual assault awareness among their members.

SGA designed custom “It’s on Us” graphics for greek organizations that agreed to participate. Photo courtesy: Kataryna Lewyckyj

According to the National Institute of Justice, 25 percent of sexual assault victims surveyed were sorority members but only 14 percent of non-victims surveyed belonged to a sorority.

One student talked about the number of seminars and trainings he had been required to complete for alcohol and drug awareness but never one about how to talk to fellow members about sexual violence.

Lewyckyj said that even if only one person was reached in all of the weeks’ initiatives, it was worth it.

“It’s cool to have these big events but talking to people personally and knowing their personal stories has been the real mission behind this,” she said.

“It’s on Us” week will conclude with a seminar on leadership in the era of the #MeToo movement from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Smith Hall room 314.