Many students come to Point Park from all over the globe and are unaware of the local resources available to them. In collaboration with It’s On Us (IOU), an organization designed to raise awareness about sexual assault across America, Rebecca Harper, director of health services, started the Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll block party.
The event is designed to talk about safety on campus in an awesome way, Harper said. Since applying for the grant in October and being awarded $40,000 in January, she thought the grant would allow for a grand launch party for IOU. Plus, it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll to Point Park. She’s had the idea for an event that provided resources and safety information for all incoming students right at the beginning of the fall semester since she saw the University of Indiana doing it on Instagram two years ago.
After taking over the university’s (IOU) organization last year, she decided the block party would be a great way to share this information.
“My goal for the event is for it to become a cornerstone every year to hit students right when they get here with information,” Harper said.
She wants to use the event to educate students about IOU, but also about the Red Zone or the first few months of college where students, typically first years, are more at risk of being sexually assaulted.
Harper invited many community partners like Title IX, the counseling center, Point Park’s safety department, Allies of Health and others to come and table at the event. She designed the block party to be fun for students, but at its core it’s a safety fair.
For first years like India Battle the different resources provided by the block party are extremely helpful, and it’s good to know that the university offers many kinds of safe spaces. At the public safety department booth, she relearned how to use pepper spray.
She said what she liked most about the event was how much help they had for different types of situations where a student’s security might be compromised.
The event was not only a way to get important information out to students, but it also helped to launch a new club named after the grant called IOU. Grey Dixon, a senior community psychology major and Vice President of IOU, is proud of what the organization is already doing. “I think we are going to be doing such great work to stand against sexual assault and create a community where it is not acceptable as well as support those that have been victimized by it,” Dixon said “I’m super proud of the event turn out. There are so many pledges. We genuinely got 75 pledges of people that support the cause and the things we stand against.” Dixon said. “I feel like it’s a really great thing to have for campus knowing that there are so many people that care about this.”
To get more information and resources about campus safety, students can go to the IOU Instagram at @iouatppu and check out the link tree in their bio.
