Obama Launches Effort to Battle Campus Sexual Assault Epidemic: National Group Applauds Efforts and Thanks Sexual Assault Survivors for Their Role

Arlington, VA, January 26, 2014 --(PR.com)-- This week, President Barack Obama announced the launch of a new focus to combat the alarming rate of sexual assaults committed on college campuses. According to a new report by the White House, college women are the most at-risk for rape and sexual assault. The report, "Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action," says that 1 in 5 women have been sexually assaulted at college but that only 12 percent of student victims report the assault.

Sarah Rice from MTV is an ambassador for PAVE: Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment - the national nonprofit that convened the National Campus Sexual Assault Summit at Georgetown Law in September of 2013.

PAVE has continued to help to build the collaborative national movement to combat campus sexual assault and has a strong focus on prevention through bystander intervention training. PAVE also has created awareness campaigns as well as workshops about cultivating communities of support with the goal of having no survivors feeling alone or disempowered.

PAVE is hopeful that this focus on college campus sexual assault will also trickle down into high schools – because that is also a critical population. Earlier this month, a high school student Daisy Coleman attempted suicide after she was raped due to the exhausting fight for justice, lack of support and severe bullying from classmates.

Oftentimes, the process to seek justice can very re-traumatizing for survivors of sexual trauma and PAVE credits the outspoken survivors in that past few years who have taken to the national stage to promote this issue such as PAVE Ambassador Laura Dunn, Annie E. Clark, Andrea Pino, Wendy Wyler and many others.

PAVE Founder Angela Rose said, “This week was a momentous win for our collective national movement. We are profoundly grateful for the current Administration to make this a top priority. PAVE also offers a debt of gratitude for all of the survivors who have used their voice to shatter the silence of sexual violence!”

Sarah Rice travels the country and speaks to college students and works with PAVE to engage men and women to be a part of the solution focusing on bystander intervention and supporting survivors.

Sarah Rice said, “I have heard countless stories from college students who have been sexually assaulted on campus and were sadly re-traumatized when they tried to report. PAVE applauds the President and his Administration for their renewed efforts on this critical issue, and we urge the task force to include survivors who have experienced the trauma firsthand. Survivors’ voices need to be heard!”

PAVE: Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment is a national nonprofit that uses education and action to shatter the silence and prevent sexual violence. PAVE's work has been featured on CNN, Oprah Winfrey Network, and in TIME. www.ShatteringTheSilence.org