28-03-2025
AU starts off Sexual Assault Awareness month observation with 'Clothesline Project'
AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- April is 'Sexual Assault Awareness Month' and Augusta University is observing it starting with the annual 'Clothesline Project.'
In April Augusta University displays t-shirts with messages and drawings designed by survivors of sexual assault or allies of sexual violence prevention.
'The goal of the T Shirt project is to bring that awareness, hopefully encourage action, provide support, provide resources, let survivors and victims know they're not alone in this,' explained Julie Kneuker, AU's Title IX Coordinator.
Kneuker added that the event makes a big impact on everyone involved and its message is important.
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'When we have opportunities to make t-shirts at different events, we'll have students or faculty or staff come up and say 'Wow, this has really meant something to me. Every year that this comes up, it's a reminder. But it also reminds me that I'm not alone,'' she said.
AU partners with one of those resources, the Sexual Assault Response Center (SARC) to highlight the services available to someone who has experienced sexual violence.
'Sexual violence happens in one in six individuals. It is it is very prevalent. And we know that's a nationwide problem. So when you look along the shirts, you'll see various messages. Some are very personal, some are pretty, you know, blanket,' said Janye Wallace, Outreach Coordinator at SARC.
Dozens of volunteers showed up to put the display of t-shirts together. They vary in message and even in size, with the smaller shirts representing that age of the survivor when they were assaulted. Volunteers were from AU and soldiers at Fort Eisenhower's Better Opportunities for Single Service Members (BOSS).
'We provide community service events such as the one that we are here at today to raise awareness to our single service member categories about sexual assault and harassment prevention and awareness,' Corporal Kandice Harmon, President of BOSS explained.
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Cpl. Harmon is an AU Alumnae and a sexual assault survivor. She told NewsChannel 6 that the 'Clothesline Project,' had a major impact on her as a student.
'I had the chance to come out of the Fine Arts Center from rehearsals and practices and walk down the roads and see these t-shirts. I also had the opportunity to make one of the t-shirts and something that I put on my t-shirt was Survivor. I do not like the word victim for myself because I am not a victim. I am a survivor.'
She added that it means a lot to her to participate in the project now.
'To be able to step foot back into my college footprint here at Augusta University as an alumni and as a service member and as a sexual assault survivor in the military, it means a lot to come out here and to bring awareness and to bring attention to something that is so important,' Cpl. Harmon said.
AU will host events to observe Sexual Assault Awareness month throughout April.
You can find out what those events are and when they are at Augusta University's website.
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