Just this past Thursday, (March 30th), the 28th annual Take Back the Night Rally and March was held in the Graduate Life Center and immediate area. Sponsored by the United Feminist Movement, the event promoted inclusivity and action to end gender-based violence. From this event and many others held during March, National Women’s Month, many felt hopeful that gender-based violence could be lessened in our community.
Within the past two weeks, several cases of sexual assault have been reported in the Virginia Tech community. But while some are taking caution, others are making change.
(Image courtesy Women’s Center at Virginia Tech @womenscentervt)
It is not unsettling to receive notice of the amount of people coming forward to report sexual assault on the Virginia Tech campus, but what is unsettling is the need for reform in education prevention, as Sarah Pavilack sees it. A Senior majoring in Public Relations and French, Pavilack is an example of a woman who empowers women through the changes she hopes to enact with a more effective sexual assault education program for incoming students at Virginia Tech.
As it is now, incoming freshmen are only presented with a virtual sexual assault education program, which offers loopholes in absorbing the content: such as muting, clicking through or otherwise practicing selective attention. Sarah’s plan to implement new education programs starts off with her sexual assault petition, which gained 1,000 signatures in less than 24 hours. To learn more about Sarah’s motives, her methods and her next steps, the Her Campus team sat with her for an interview.
What day did you send out the petition? How did this gain traction?
The same day of the assaults. It was kind of an unintentional effect. I first contacted the local news, because I’m a Public Relations major, and I was mad nobody knew about it. I reached out and told them what was happening, and they wanted to interview me.
They [the local news] usually monitor the police reports, and for some reason they missed it [the recent sexual assault reports], and if i hadn’t contacted them they said it wouldn’t have been covered in the news.
Beyond getting people to know what was happening, I realized if I wanted the school to do something, I had to do something. I am not very technologically-savvy, so I just Googled petitions. I made it, put it on facebook and it started going nuts.
How did social media aid the exposure and virality?
I reached out to people I knew were involved and in different pockets of campus because the main problem is the school is so big, so I asked people in my classes to share it. I also got it successfully into every sorority’s Facebook group. I got people to share it at JMU and UVA because I know this is happening everywhere, and I’m sure other in-state schools are having similar experiences.
At the beginning, when I sent it out at 10pm the first night, I had 300 signatures, and I was a little stressed out because you can’t go to an interview for a petition with a school with 30,000 students with only 300 signatures. The next day, I kept promoting it and sending it out, seeing if newspapers would cover it. It needed to gain exposure.
When the fourth email [notifying of another sexual assault] went out, it was a huge burst because people who had previously signed the petition, went back and shared it on their Facebooks. It [the fourth email] was another shake for those people, like “I’ve done something, but I haven’t done enough.” People realized they needed to take action.
After that, I was getting more than one signature every minute for that whole day. By the time I interviewed, I had 1,100 signatures. We’re at 1,600 right now, so it is slowing down a bit, but it’s still not stopping.
What responses have you gotten from your faculty? How has this affected your ability to focus in classes?
Something like this is so time-sensitive, and you can’t very well run a campaign about this a month later. The day after this started, I had a class, and I had a teacher I knew would be supportive. We had a certain amount of days you could miss, but I just wanted to let her know I wouldn’t be able to make it that day, and she responded with full support, thanking me for doing this for the campus.
It’s hard to stay focused, but it’s what you got to do.
In an article with WDBJ7, you mentioned you did not experience sexual assault, but administered assistance to a close friend during a severe incident. Can you describe the impact of this on you?
I have had many friends who have been sexually assaulted before, and there’s a wide range of things that could happen with this even though this instance was not a successful, complete assault.
This friend had already been previously sexually assaulted before coming to college. When she came to college she was daterape drugged at a party. It seemed like one of those things you see in the movies, because whatever she was given was making her lose her memory basically every 10 seconds. She would start getting worked up, then forget and it would start all over again. It was this shell of a person that I knew. That was a really big wakeup call because somebody went to that party with the intention of doing that to her.
It’s not a mistake, it’s not a misunderstanding. Luckily we got her home safe and sound, but I can’t event think about what would have happened if she had still been there.
In what ways do you hope to ensure the current sexual assault education program at Virginia Tech is revised?
The typical assaulter does not consider what they did to be sexual assault. When students come to this school they need to be told “this is how it is, this is okay and this is not okay. There will be consequences.”
Right now, there are too many blurred lines and too many times where they don’t know if their behavior is appropriate. I want to make sure everything is clearly defined, but in addition I would love to see the element of seeing the survivors speak because I think there is a gap between the understanding of what actually happens to a victim of sexual assault and what they go through emotionally.
It doesn’t always have to be an extreme example. It can cover a variety of types of sexual assault to bring a better understanding and show even if you weren’t held down by a stranger, that doesn’t mean that what happens to you doesn’t hurt.
And most cases of sexual assault seem to be between people that were previously acquainted.
Often, it’s people who know each other that don’t understand that ‘no means no’. It’s interesting how our generation is accepting that as a fact now whereas older generations have a classic image of rape being committed by a stranger.
What women have been your greatest role models?
I’ve had a lot of strong women in my life. My friends really influence me, my mom is really badass and my older sister is great! I haven’t had one person specifically. I’ve seen women in different aspects of my life be very brave and very strong, and I try to borrow from each area and apply it to myself to be a better person.
Did you attend any events or engage in any activism during the month of March?
Yes, Take Back the Night, (and in previous years too), the Clothesline Project. I’m not officially affiliated, but since this has happened I have been reached out to by SGA and other organizations. I can only get so involved, since I am a Senior, but it’s nice I’ll be able to work with these organizations within my last few weeks here.
How do you hope to continue making change in our community?
I’m hoping that this will get wrapped up and put into the education here before I leave. I’ve been in contact with younger women here who care about this cause, so if I don’t get it done while I’m here, then it’s definitely going to get done. I want to see the community embrace and accept this and not deny that it’s happening and realize that these are conversations we should be having.
What other issues do you advocate for?
This past summer I interned at the Richmond SPCA, which is one of the best animal shelters in the nation, so I am a very big advocate for animal welfare. Also the environment. Things that, in my opinion, most people should care about!
Do you have any immediate plans upon graduation?
I’m actually going to work on a dude ranch in Wyoming, just for the summer. It’s a guest ranch people will go to for a getaway vacation to go horseback riding and hiking in the mountains. They hire recently graduated college students, and it’s open from May through September.
Not sure after that, my work is really dependent on if I care about something. For example, my work with this petition has been consistent from the moment I wake up till the moment I go to sleep for the past three days, so I want to have something like that in my future work. So I would imagine I would be in some sort of cause-based organization.
What advice can you give to women who wish to invoke change on this campus?
At least try. This whole experience for me has shown that you don’t need to have a plan. If you’re angry about something and believe something needs to change, just try! Take it one day at a time, as you never know how it will turn out. Engage people, get the word out and keep working hard.
We enjoyed speaking with Sarah about her work to implement more comprehensive and definitive sexual assault education for the incoming classes at Virginia Tech. We are hopeful to see the conversations normalized about the issue of sexual assault and to witness the community embrace the changes she has ushered in!
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