UCLA released a video Thursday showing prominent campus leaders encouraging the university community to take a stand against sexual assault as part of an effort to bring attention to on-campus resources for survivors of sexual assault.
The video features current and former UCLA students reading a composite of accounts from real sexual assault stories. In addition to the video, the university is also displaying several new informational screens about sexual assault resources and Title IX rights on monitors on campus and the Hill.
Pamela Thomason, the UCLA Title IX officer, Janina Montero, the vice chancellor of student affairs, UCLA football coach Jim Mora and gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field also spoke in the video, encouraging survivors of sexual assault to take advantage of campus resources, such as Campus Assault Resources and Education and UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services.
Thomason came up with the idea for the video, which was made in collaboration with UCLA media relations. Thomason said she was inspired to make the video because of advocacy across the country against sexual assault.
“The thing the video does for me is it puts a real human face on (the issue of sexual assault),” Thomason said.
In the video, UCLA leaders also encourage students to download the Circle of 6 app, which aims to increase individuals’ safety by allowing them to quickly contact six emergency contacts with pre-typed messages.
Members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council have been trying to obtain funding from different campus departments to create a Circle of 6 app with UCLA-specific resources on it for months.
USAC Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich, who is working on the app, also started 7,000 in Solidarity, a student sexual assault prevention, research and advocacy campaign. UCLA leaders did not reach out to students involved in the 7,000 in Solidarity campaign to create the video.
Badalich said she thinks the video was a good step and that she hopes UCLA produces more videos about the topic, including one about sexual violence against men.
Thomason said she does not have plans to make more videos as of now.