City and campus organizations want to launch the school year off fresh by raising awareness of sexual assault and increasing student involvement in creating a culture of inclusion.

Not in Our Town, We Are One Team, and It’s On Us united together this Tuesday at the Union Oval, handing out woven bags, flyers and pins to students passing by in an effort to spread the word about their organizations’ objectives and initiatives.

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Community Co-Chair for Not in Our Town, Julie Broadwell, said, “We decided to do an awareness walk and get students aware of the different campaigns. It’s On Us really focuses on sexual assault prevention and awareness, and then Not In Our Town is a national campaign about stopping hate. With We Are One Team, the three groups just wanted to come together and combine efforts to get the word out about the different campaigns going on.”

University and city leaders alike came out to participate in the walk, and show their support for the groups.

Bowling Green Councilman Bruce Jeffers said, “I think there are issues that are common to the city and the University. And racism and hatred are things that many people are trying to oppose and speak against. This is a long time effort, and we just need people to show up sometimes. It’s men’s duty to stand up and help deal with sexual assault prevention.”

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“Any opportunity to help spread some information about sexual assault prevention, and stopping hatred in communities I try to be there,” said BGSU alumni and current Bowling Green councilwoman candidate, Holly Cirpriani. “It’s nice to have awareness raising on campus.”

“We hope to spread awareness for the new Step Up-Step In It’s On Us campaign which is about bystander intervention,” said Hannah Barnes, the speaker of the house for Undergraduate Student Government

It’s On Us is the University’s official campaign combating the threat of sexual assault on-campus, focusing on men and what their part in stopping sexual assault on college campuses. It gives students an organized opportunity to help the cause.

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Not In Our Town utilizes social media, organization tools and films to help inclusive communities around the country, and they play an active role in the Bowling Green community. Just two weeks ago, Not In Our Town hosted a rally at the town green space to support the victims of the Charlottesville, Virginia protests.

The Universities athletic department formed We Are One Team as a forum for addressing social justice issues like gender inequality and stereotypes through sports teams.

“We are here to promote diversity on campus. Using sport as an avenue to promote diversity and inclusion, and to help minority groups on campus,” said We Are One Team Intern Elena Lancioni.

All three of these organizations can be easily found online through their websites or on social media, and are constantly hosting projects or events for the community to get involved in.

“What we are really focused on is getting increased student involvement,” said Broadwell. “We want to hear what students are saying, what the pulse of the University is if they have any concerns about any racism or hate speech. Anytime students are not feeling welcomed or included here because of their ethnicity, country of origin or gender identity we definitely want to hear from them.”

Students who want to report incidents of hate or sexual assault can utitlize the “See it. Hear it. Report it.” function on the BG app or on the University’s website.