That’s the idea behind IU’s decision to promote the message of “It’s On Us” through a public service announcement video contest. “It’s On Us” is a national awareness campaign created by the White House in 2014 that aims to address the issue of sexual violence on college campuses.
The video contest is open to any IU student, group, organization or department. The winning 30 to 60-second PSA will capture the message of the “It’s On Us” campaign and how IU students can step up to ?prevent sexual assault.
“We found that one of the best ways students receive messages is when those messages are from one another,” Leslie Fasone, assistant dean of women’s and gender affairs, said. “The idea was how can we adopt this national campaign promoted by the White House and how can we engage students in sharing these messages.”
The “It’s On Us” campaign is being promoted across all IU campuses, Fasone said, though the PSA competition is unique to Bloomington.
“I think that something that is really powerful is that we’re sharing the message about student welfare across all eight campuses,” Fasone said. “It’s showing we are one. There is a great deal of administrative ?support for these initiatives.”
The winning video will portray a message consistent with the “It’s On Us” campaign while adapting the content to IU, Fasone said. Examples include demonstrating bystander intervention, discussing what it means to get consent before sex and highlighting campus resources.
Interested parties should send an email expressing their intent to submit to ?care@indiana.edu by midnight Feb. 18. Videos must be uploaded to YouTube and the link emailed via a form on the dean of students’ website by midnight Feb. 22.
The winner will be announced March 2 and the video will be shown during halftime of the last home men’s basketball game against Michigan State on March 7. IU Communications will also promote the video.
Fasone said six groups have already expressed an intent to submit and she is ?excited to see the final results.
“We wanted to be creative and to encourage people who might not normally be involved with sexual assault prevention to become involved,” she said. “I’m really anxious to see what they come up with and how that will motivate people to step up, to intervene and to ask for consent.”
