By Jack Wisniewski
For The Diamondback
Standing on the bricks in front the Main Administration Building, senior psychology major Patricia Kolbe led a crowd of more than 60 students in chants.
“However we dress, wherever we go, yes means yes, and no means no,” screamed Kolbe, the corporate outreach chair for Preventing Sexual Assault.
From the bottom of McKeldin Mall, participants in the University of Maryland’s SlutWalk — hosted by PSA for the first time — shouted together as they marched toward Stamp Student Union on Friday afternoon.
Many students walking to and from classes slowed down and watched as participants walked to spread awareness about sexual assault by wearing “slutty” clothing.
“The SlutWalk is a way to take back the word ‘slut’ and describe it as someone who is in control of their sexuality,” said senior behavioral and community health major Alanna Deleon.
Deleon, a member of PSA since its formation last October, wore short shorts and a small top while holding a megaphone.
“A part of the event is being able to choose what your poster says and how much control you have over your body,” said Deleon, the group’s president.
Madison Brewer, a freshman journalism major, held up a sign that read, “It’s a dress, not a yes.”
“I wear whatever makes me feel beautiful,” Brewer said. “If that happens to be something that’s a little low cut, then it doesn’t matter.”
The SlutWalk focuses on inspiring student unity to change the way this university handles sexual assault, said PSA events coordinator Rachel Novick.
“We hope to utilize people’s’ desire to create change and help guide them in that direction,” said Novick, a senior physiology and neurobiology major.
This university’s Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct, which was created in 2014, “has not been fully functioning because of underfunding,” Student Government Association President Katherine Swanson said before the march began.
“Investigations into sexual misconduct that are supposed to take 60 days are taking six to nine months,” she told the crowd.
The SGA recently submitted a student fee proposal asking undergraduates and graduate students to pay $34 per academic year to supply funding to this university’s Title IX office. The fee would raise $998,563 in fiscal 2018, and go toward adding five positions within the office.
One person marched with a sign that read, “TITLE IX FUNDING IS TOO DAMN LOH.”
Research compiled by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center shows 27 percent of college women have experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact. In 2014, 40 percent of colleges and universities reported not investigating a single sexual assault case in the previous five years.
University alumna McLaine Rich said victim blaming contributes to people’s fears about report sexual assaults.
“We are all taking our clothes off and saying that this is not an excuse to rape us,” said Rich, a founder of PSA. “But we need to be aware of the fact that there are so many people that are completely unaware that they are inherently blaming victims for something that is completely out of their control.”
Victim blaming is what inspired the idea of SlutWalks. At the first SlutWalk in 2011, 3,000 people gathered in Toronto after a police official said, “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”
“It’s really hard for us to picture that bad things can happen to innocent people, but rape is caused by rapists,” Rich said.
At the end of the SlutWalk, participants released balloons, each with a personalized note card, into the air in unison.
“We’re going to continue to raise our voices,” Deleon said as the balloons ascended toward the sky, “and make sure that our administration knows that we’re not going to stop fighting until they make actual changes.”
