By Alexandra Marquez
The Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct (OCRSM) hosted a Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event Friday to promote awareness of sexual assault and sexual misconduct on college campuses.
The event was held in the afternoon on Mckeldin Mall, in front of the main administration building. OCRSM’s director and the university’s Title IX officer, Catherine Carroll spoke for a few minutes before the walk began about the importance of the event and thanked attendees for their continued support of the OCRSM.
About 30 people showed up for the walk, including students and faculty members from the OCRSM and the CARE to Stop Violence office at the University Health Center.
Ian Tolino, a program educator from CARE to Stop Violence attended the OCRSM event with his colleagues. They walked the mile together and each wore heels.
“All of the male-identifying people in our office decided to do it as a team,” Tolino said. “We had a collective effort and once we all got on board it was like a team-building thing.”
Tolino said that he and his colleagues recognize the importance of the event beyond just trying to walk a mile in women’s shoes.
“I think it’s important to show that there are allies in the fight against sexual and relationship violence and to really spend a day and, in actuality, walk a mile in someone else’s shoes,” he said. “I know it’s a saying, but a lot of people don’t do it.”
Mark Nelms, an investigator for OCRSM also attended the event and walked the mile in heels. “I think that it’s really important that with the kind of work that I do, I be here to set a good example and to show that this matters to me,” he said.
Nelms also said he believes that men need to recognize their role in sexual assault and violence prevention, and participating in events like the walk is a great way to do so. “[Sexual assault] is really something that men need to take responsibility for and so I want to be sure that any time there’s an opportunity to do that and make a public showing of it, that we do it,” he said.
Carroll, the OCSRM director, was pleased with the amount of people who attended the event this year. It is the fourth year that OCRSM has held a Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event, and Carroll believes it’s helpful in promoting awareness of sexual assault at UMD.
“[The walk] can be really fun and [speaking about sexual misconduct] can be really heavy, so it’s good to find things where you can have some healthy competition, because people can really get into it,” she said.
Among the students who attended the event were four male students from UMD’s varsity wrestling team. Sophomore Niko Cappello said that the wrestling team vows to support events on campus that raise awareness for sexual assault prevention.
“It’s a big thing, it happens a lot, and it’s not really on the foregrounds of what people want to talk about,” he said. “Raising awareness like this brings it to the foreground, where people can really get involved.”