According to Brittany Talley, coordinator for the Campus Violence Prevention Program at Southeast Missouri State University, one in four women will experience sexual assault in her lifetime and 80 percent of those women are college students.

For Talley and her graduate assistant Donna St. Sauver, that is one too many. That is one of the reasons why the two have decided to spearhead the effort to bring awareness and resources through recognition of National Sexual Assault Awareness month.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month, or SAAM, is celebrated throughout the United States. According to Talley, the recent efforts taken on by the Campus Violence Prevention Program combined with this years theme, made it impossible for her not to take part in recognizing the month.

"The messaging from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center was that this year's theme is 'Safer Campuses,' so we couldn't ignore that," Talley said.

The events that are taking place throughout the month include "Sexy Time: Consent!" that took place on April 1, "SAAM Day of Action" all day on April 7, "The Sexual Double Standard" discussion that will take place on at noon on April 8 in UC Tribute Room, "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" at 5:30 p.m on April 13 beginning in Academic Auditorium, "Light Up the Night" at 11 a.m. on April 23 in the UC Lobby, "Take Back the Night" at 7 p.m. on April 23 at the Academic Terraces and "Denim Day" all day on April 29.

The SAAM Day of Action is a nationally celebrated day where teal, the color of sexual assault awareness, is displayed, and Southeast will be taking place by decorating throughout the campus with teal ribbons.

"Take Back the Night" is an empowerment march that focuses on reducing the stigma surrounding sexual assault by supporting survivors and showing that campuses will not stand for sexual assault. During this event the campus community will be invited to march around the campus radius with luminaries to light up the night while survivors stories are told through poems or prose. Students can submit stories, which can be read anonymously, about their experience to cvpp@semo.edu or the "SEMO Sexual Assault Awareness Month" Facebook page by message.

Another one of the month's events, "Denim Day," is an internationally celebrated day that stems from an event that took place in Italy where the Italian Parliament told a woman who had been sexually assaulted that the assault was her fault due to her tight jeans. In protest, women parliament members wore jeans to parliament, which has now transformed into an international day of wearing jeans to support victims of sexual assault.

The events planned were not all organized by Talley and the rest of the Campus Violence Prevention staff. The Office of Greek Life will be coordinating "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" and "The Sexual Double Standard" was planned by The Office of Campus Life as a part of its Women's Lecture Series. St. Sauver said that this is collaborative effort between their office and other organizations.

"We found that the collaborative efforts with different organizations on campus have been really successful," St. Sauver said. "We feel like we are reaching a lot of students when we do that."

Talley said that seeing different offices and student groups taking on these efforts is what she hopes to see come from this month, along with awareness and help for those who may need it, because she feels that when students put their efforts into events and show concern, other students follow.

"I really want students to take ownership of these events and empower themselves," Talley said "And my goal would be that this time next year the only thing that we are planning is the 'Take Back the Night' event and everything else is a student led event because I really feel students care more when other students do it."

Campus Violence Prevention Program representatives have spoken with a number of groups on campus, including Greek Life and resident assistants in the Office of Residence Life. According to Talley and St. Sauver, they have seen a rise in the number of students who reach out for assistance and participate in events due to their growing visibility on campus.

"We have seen more reporting and I have had people come up to me after a presentation and say, 'Hey, can I come make an appointment to chat' and maybe it isn't something that happened at school, but they need someone to talk about it with," Talley said. "Being more visible says this is a real thing and it's happening and we're not going to hide it, we are going to deal with it and that is what I think doing outreach programs and programs like this really shows students."

According to Talley and St. Sauver, Southeast is not immune to the horrors of sexual assault. It crosses socio-economic, racial, gender and sexual orientation lines and while they both believe that Southeast is a relatively safe campus, she does not want students to get in the mindset that it only happens to other people on other campuses.

"One in four women is so many people," Talley said. "This is a relatively safe campus, but unfortunately I am still a very busy woman."

Both Talley and St. Sauver said that they hope the month of events will help bring about awareness, help erase the stigmas and myths associated with sexual assault and also show students the resources that they have available to them.

For more information about the events, visit the "SEMO Sexual Assault Awareness Month" Facebook page or contact the Campus Violence Prevention Program at cvpp@semo.edu or in its office in Dearmont B1.