April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Today marks the start of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), an annual campaign to raise public awareness about sexual assault and educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence. This year’s theme is “Building Safe Online Spaces Together.”

To show our School’s commitment to joining in the conversation, the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards will join advocates, survivors, and supporters as we take SAAM online for the #30DaysofSAAM Instagram Challenge. The #30DaysofSAAM is a great way to show up for survivors during SAAM.

Students and their families can respond to the daily prompts attached with a photo on their Instagram account. Each day, we’ll select top posts to highlight and will thank those accounts with prize packs as tokens of appreciation. Guidelines for submission posts and prize eligibility are below:

• Submissions must tag #SPSConduct.
• Posts must include #30DaysOfSAAM and a # identifying the prompt they are responding to (i.e. #Day1, #Day2, etc.)
• Posts can come from groups or individuals.
• All types of posts are accepted including videos, photos, digital artwork, photos of illustrations, collages, poems, etc.
• Every day students participate, they are entered to win the prompt prize that day
• Only those that participate each day in April will be entered to win the grand prize at the end of the month.

To learn more about #30DaysofSAAM, visit the CUNY SPS Instagram page.

Get more information about CUNY SPS’ commitment to combatting sexual assault and confidential, free mental health support. Contact Carolee Ramsay, CUNY SPS Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards, for details on the #30DaysOfSAAM IG Challenge and future SAAM activities.

Special thanks to National Sexual Violence Resource Center for creating graphics and prompts and allowing their use.