Va. college students raise awareness on sexual assaults

WASHINGTON — It’s a growing problem that’s happening at college campuses across the country and the statistics are pretty frightening — one in five college women will be sexually assaulted.

At George Mason University in Virginia, the push is on to crack down on sexual violence and a major tool in that fight is awareness. That’s why, on Tuesday, the university teamed with advocacy group Fear 2 Freedom for an event where about 300 students helped make rape care kits for sex assault survivors.

The students made 250 kits for adults and 100 kits for children to give to Inova hospitals.

Taylor Sprague, a junior, says, “What this box does, is for someone who’s just experienced something that can be life changing, they’ll get this box and know that someone’s been thinking about them even before they get to the hospital.”

Sexual assault victims are usually sent home from the hospital in scrubs because their clothes are kept for evidence. That’s why the kit includes clothing and it also contains toiletries, a personal note of support and a teddy bear.

The school’s president, Angel Cabrera, is on Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s statewide task force to combat sex assaults on college campuses. He’s holding a forum Tuesday evening to address the problem.

One of the speakers at the event, Rosemary Trible, is a sex assault survivor and founder of Fear 2 Freedom, a non-profit based out of Newport News that works to restore the lives of sexual assault victims. She says a major tool to fight back is education.

University spokeswoman, Michele McDonald, says the school is committed to raising awareness of this problem.

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