Students gather to speak out against sexual assault

PHOTO: The crowd at the April 14 demonstration was filled with signs and posters advocating for better sexual assault awareness education. Many students also wore teal, the color for sexual assault awareness.

By Declan Fee,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Over 200 students gathered outside the Davis High administrative buildings on Thursday, April 14 to demand change from DHS. Donning shirts with powerful messages and posters that echoed those same feelings, the message was clear: The student body is outraged and fed up with the administration’s handling of sexual assault cases and education surrounding sexual assault awareness. 

After an assembly presented to the senior class on April 11 showed a video covering the topic of sexual assault and violence on college campuses, students took to the hallways and social media to express their frustration. 

“(At the assembly) we watched a 60 minute video about college campuses and how they don’t support sexual assault victims. The poorly tasted video outlined a clearly wrong message, and only outlined victim-blaming,” senior Wren Arellano-Calderon said.

Many students were particularly upset that no trigger warning was provided prior to the assembly.

“There was, as far as I or my peers knew, no way to opt-out of the assembly. Some of the audience members were survivors of sexual assault and harassment. They were forced to relive their worst nightmares,” senior Andy Brosnan said. 

This has ignited a school-wide conversation regarding sexual assault.

Students stood in front of Thursday’s crowd to speak on their experiences with sexual assault and condemn the administration’s lack of support through those times.

“While the district tries to (use) applied resources for its students, the way it is approached is not acceptable … We urge the school to dedicate time and energy to ongoing cases and stories of survivors in our district. All cases need to be addressed, and the district must assert a no tolerance policy,” junior Halla Sorenson said.

After every call for help and demand for action, cheers rang throughout the crowd.

Flyers were distributed with a list of goals for the district that included a public apology regarding the assembly, conversations about consent beginning in elementary schools and more accessible ways to report sexual assault. The other side of the flyer encouraged students to submit testimonials and join in a student advisory board regarding sexual assault awareness.

Though many students spoke about the trauma the past week has brought, some feel that the activism born from Monday’s assembly will be incredibly beneficial in the long run.

“I am really glad that we can have change come from this and have the school board actually do something about this,” Arellano-Calderon said.

Student groups such as Davis Student Union, Studs against SA and Do Better DHS say that they will continue to do their best to make their voices heard and pursue the fight for change.

Stay tuned to the Blue Devil HUB for information regarding this ongoing story.