Black Thursdays organizers out to make awareness fashion

For those having trouble deciding what to wear Thursdays, the choice has been made a little easier by the IU Men's Coalition. The group is encouraging IU community members to wear black every Thursday in April, which is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, as part of the international campaign, "Thursdays in Black."\nThe campaign began in 1970, according to www.stopcampusrape.net, in Argentina when women began wearing black to protest the murder and rape of other women and the lack of authorities' action. The protest also aimed to raise awareness about the disappearances of these women, and to put pressure on the government to make the violence toward women stop. Since then, Thursdays in Black has been adopted by countries and communities all over the world.\nNigel Pizzini, academic advisor for the Hutton Honors College, said he believes the campaign's simplicity is a large reason why it is so effective.\n"This event is very simple and has the potential to involve people who might not be involved in any other kind of sexual awareness act," Pizzini said.\nPizzini said he believes the Thursdays in Black campaign can touch those who have been affected by sexual assault. \n"I can imagine if I were the victim of sexual assault, I would take great pride in seeing my classmates stand in empathy of my situation," he said. "I hope women can derive some comfort of seeing other women wearing black on this campus. I also hope that it gives men an idea of the influence and effect that sexual assault has on the campus as a whole."\nThis year, the Men's Coalition is sponsoring the Thursdays in Black campaign. Peter Huff, an executive board member, said this event fits right into the scheme of what the Men's Coalition is attempting to accomplish.\n"The goal of this organization is to bring students, faculty and staff together to address the issues and culture of masculinity," he said. "Because around 90 percent of sexual assaults are committed by men, we want to educate the men into realizing that this is something to be taken very seriously because real men do not think rape is funny." \nPizzini said he believes this group is very valuable on campus in educating young college men.\n"Men have certain ideas about entitlement and women as sexual beings," he said. "This group is a way for men to speak out to other men on campus about sexual assault."\nPizzini also wants to clear up the myth that most sexual assaults are committed by strangers in dark allies.\n"Most sexual assaults are committed by people that women have conversed with two or three times and occur not in dark allies but in dorm rooms, or at parties," Pizzini said.\nPizzini said IU is not doing enough to solve this problem.\n"IU needs to put more time, money and effort into making this campus safe," he said. "Other universities are doing much more to protect their students, and IU needs to catch up to their caliber."\nPizzini also wants to promote a demonstration April 20 titled "Stand Up and Be Counted" talking about statistics of sexual assault.