In an email to students Wednesday, the President’s Committee on Sexual Violence announced the schedule of its inaugural Raise Your Voice Symposium.
The email described the symposium, which will run from April 6-13, as “one week with many events, including guest speakers, panels on the latest research on sexual violence, powerful art and more.”
The first event, “Start by Believing Day” on April 6, “provides education on responding to disclosures by survivors and encourages our community to pledge to ‘start by believing,’” the email said.
“Sexual Violence in Fiction,” which will feature author and Saint Mary’s alumna Janet Kelley, and “Research Advocacy and Activism on Sexual Violence” will both be held April 8, the email announced.
“What Were You Wearing,” a visual art installation sharing “stories of survivors from the Saint Mary’s campus community with the goal to disrupt the victim-blaming myth that sexual assault can be attributed to what someone was wearing,” will be open from April 11- 18, the email said.
The email announced that April 11 will also feature special guest Chanel Miller, the author of the memoir “Know My Name”. In conjunction with this event, the email said, there will be an exhibit and resource fair featuring representatives from the tri-campus and South Bend community.
The annual “Take Back the Night” will conclude the symposium April 13.
“The event will begin at Saint Mary’s with a brief ceremony before walking across the college campus to the University of Notre Dame for a Survivor Speak Out,” the email said.
