Story Published: Jul 12, 2009 at 2:13 PM PST
Story Updated: Jul 12, 2009 at 2:13 PM PST
The U.S. Department of Education is supporting a WSU campaign against sexual violence with a $235,000 check.
"The grant's going to fund two years of a sexual assault prevention campaign, that's going to consist of newsletters that will be delivered to freshman on campus," said College of Communication Assistant Professor Stacey Hust.
Hust and Paula Adams first joined the movement in 2006, they said to support the college's campaign as it was. Since then, they've taken it to another level. They are targeting the most vulnerable sub-group of the most vulnerable demographic in the country.
"We decided to focus on them in attempts to educate them and make them more aware of services, as well as trying to get them to adapt to behaviors that would lead to reporting sexual assault or services for sexual assault," said Hust.
"We already know it has an effect with campaigns we've done in the past," said Adams. "We really want to learn more about how much of an effect it has, and also how the materials are actually creating that effect. So, there's a lot of theory behind what we're doing."
Hust and Adams said the campaign is largely student-driven, from design to research. They hope the support can continue for the program, which is going for some measurable results.
"Our goal, and the granting agency's goal, is to reduce sexual violence on campus by five percent," said Adams. "That's what we're shooting for. We'll see if we get there, and we hopefully will."
