The academic year is officially in full swing. The first few weeks are filled with welcome activities, learning how to use technology on campus, figuring out where everything is on campus, and deciding on any clubs or organizations to be affiliated with. There are a lot of them to choose from. A lesser known organization on our campus is known as SAAT or the Sexual Assault Awareness Team. This club is strying to get back on its feet and grow to bring many beneficial things to the SAU campus.
Sexual assault and domestic abuse/violence are often subjects that people try to avoid. They feel uncomfortable talking about them. Many people have the mindset of , “that will never happen to me.” However, either can happen to anyone. SAAT’s goal is to spread more awareness about both subjects by planning events to spread knowledge and information about sexual assault, domestic abuse/violence, what to do if you are a victim or know someone experiencing these things, and teach people about the resources available to them on campus and in the community. During the Spring 2021 semester, SAAT held a movie night showing the movie “Enough” to show how serious domestic abuse/violence is and how dangerous it can get.
One thing that is unique about SAAT is the fact that students can volunteer to become student advocates. Student advocates are students who have been through specialized training to assist on campus victims who expereience sexual assault or domestic abuse/violence. They have partnered with an organization in the Quad Cities for students to be able to attend training courses to become certified advocates. This is not an easy thing to do or be, but being there for someone who may otherwise have no one is worth it.
For more information about the Sexual Assault Awareness Team check out the organization page on the SAU website at: https://www.sau.edu/student-life/clubs-and-organizations/saat. This page also provides students with the phones numbers to reach a student advocate or for a community organization known as SafePath for help as well. If you are interested in joining the team, you can email them at SAAT@sau.edu.