Comments from participants

Here are some quotes from participants in the new campus-community campaign to prevent sexual assault.

Kathleen M. Falk, Dane County executive: “Sexual assault is a violent crime. It is made worse by the abuse of alcohol and other drugs. I’m grateful for the good work of the students, University Health Services and other campus offices in carrying out this campaign to make women and children in our community safer.”

Scott McDonell, Dane County 4th district supervisor: “The student focus of this campaign is key-a campaign created by students, for students. Dane County helped fund student groups such as ASM, PAVE and MOSA on previous sexual assault prevention campaigns. We’re pleased to support the good work of students to improve their own community. That’s how lasting change will happen.”

Kathleen Poi, University Health Services director: “UHS is deeply committed to preventing sexual assaults at UW–Madison. Success will require partnerships with the broader community and between diverse departments of the university. It will require the involvement of students-especially men, who often don’t consider their role in prevention efforts. The ‘Courage’ campaign offers hope, because it nurtures and empowers just these sorts of connections.”

Jean Chagnon, UW–Madison associate dean of students: “This collaboration between students, faculty, staff, and county government has produced an educational campaign that has the real potential to increase people’s awareness about the very troubling issue of sexual assault on college campuses. As we all continue to work together we can better use our collective power to decrease incidents of sexual assault.”

Edie Brogan, University Police Department sergeant: “I am glad that the community is coming together and steadily improving its response to sexual assault. University Police supports this camps-wide effort and is committed to continually improving our services.”

Steve Sparks, instructor for the class that created the campaign: “As the group members worked to develop the campaign, they were quite surprised by some of the reactions they received from other students about sexual violence. Then they really became enthused about the need for this campaign and what a campaign could accomplish. Because they were students themselves, they were able to come up with some very creative and innovative strategies to communicate on this topic with others their age.”

Susan Crowley, University Health Services director for prevention services: “This campaign reflects the power of collaboration and discussion about how sexual assault affects the entire community. The partnership between Dane County and the University of Wisconsin–Madison signals our mutual commitment to providing a safe, violence-free community for all.”