Photos and story by Jessica Harden
Content warning: This article discusses instances of sexual assault.
A sign at the event explained the fundamentals of consent, using fries as an acronym. 
T-shirts on display at Preventing Sexual Assault’s table. 
Plant starters at the CARE to Stop Violence table were given out to attendees who answered educational trivia questions. 
Teddy the Terp, a comfort dog in training, gets belly rubs from Grace Boudreau while his handler, Officer Melissa Fischer, sits with them. 
A box where attendees can write encouraging letters to sexual assault survivors sat with other materials at the event. 
The Sexual Assault Prevention Committee relaunched its Raise Your Voice campaign Tuesday evening with a fair-style event at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union in the Grand Ballroom, an encore from its first launch right before the pandemic began.
“The goal of Raise Your Voice is to empower students to change the culture and address norms that maybe they’re uncomfortable with or that they would like to see different and really empowering them that they have their voice on the campus,” said Grace Boudreau, the University of Maryland coordinator for the CARE to Stop Violence office and co-chair of the Communication Strategy SAPC subcommittee.
The event included tables where attendees could write letters to survivors, pick up T-shirts and water bottles, complete arts and crafts and learn about resources available to students who have experienced sexual misconduct. University President Darryll Pines also spoke at the event, pledging that the university will be dedicated to making sure everyone feels comfortable reporting sexual misconduct.
“I assure you we are hearing your voices,” Pines said. “And please know that everyone at the University of Maryland, including the President’s office, is standing with you by your side.”
Maddie Catlin, a junior criminal justice and criminology major, was at the event with the student-run organization Preventing Sexual Assault. Because Catlin is on the executive board and is the support chair for the organization, people who have been assaulted or feel as though they were assaulted are sent to her. She then points students in the right direction for navigating the Title IX process and taking legal action, or she just acts as a support system as survivors come to terms and heal from what happened.
“Personally, I was assaulted a year and a half ago, and it was by two boys in the same night… I didn’t know what to do,” Catlin said. She reached out to Preventing Sexual Assault because she knew about their presence on campus, she said.
“I was involved with the Title IX process, and I felt like I wasn’t being listened to, but with PSA, I was always listened to and I was always recognized as a human being, not just a regular student here on campus.”
Catlin’s Title IX process took 11 months, and even though she said she had every piece of evidence, one of her assaulters was found innocent and still attends the university.
“Title IX does not act accordingly and they don’t make a survivor feel heard,” Catlin said. “They claim that they’re here for everyone, yet for me, I was never shown that I was important enough to be cared for.”
Catlin went on to say that the organization’s biggest challenge comes from Greek life and that she doesn’t know anyone who’s gotten justice. Despite this, Pines told the Diamondback in October 2021 that he doesn’t think Greek life on campus has an issue with sexual assault and that he hasn’t heard of many cases.
“We need to hold him accountable… it’s disrespectful to survivors,” said Amanda Sherman, a junior marketing major and event co-coordinator with PSA. “And not only that, it gives people the green light to keep doing what [they’re] doing.”
Sherman said she believes everyone has either experienced sexual assault or knows someone who has. She also said that preventing sexual assault is always put on women because they’re told to be safe and careful.
Anna Smillie, a senior government and politics major and event attendee, agreed that the university has an issue with sexual assault.
“I think there needs to be more programming geared towards men,” Smillie said. “[I’m] not saying that they’re 100% of the problem. Obviously, there are male survivors as well, but a lot of the issues surrounding sexual assault have to do with a gender power imbalance, and there’s just stuff that men don’t get taught from a young age that we do.”
Both the Sexual Assault Prevention Committee and Preventing Sexual Assault plan to have outreach events in April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
“No girl needs to wake up with her pants undone,” Catlin said.
She also stated that one in four women are assaulted during their time in college and that she became a part of that statistic at 19.
“Just because you don’t think it’s severe enough doesn’t mean that it’s not trauma,” Catlin said. “It doesn’t mean that you don’t need to talk about it, and you don’t need to be scared to talk about it. Yet, it’s awful and it hurts and it’s something I would not wish on anyone else, but we can heal together if we all stand up.”