Square Aware Quilts Draw Attention to Sexual Violence Issues

There is immense comfort in knowing you’re not alone. Messages from others can provide support and hope in places you’d never imagine. Some of these messages can be found right on campus due to the Square Aware Project.

The Square Aware Project is a collective art piece, sponsored by the Women’s Programming Committee (WPC) and Title IX. It celebrates survival and healing during Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) and provides messages of hope and resilience to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. The WPC, which is a student organization housed under the Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI), organized the project.

Fabric squares were decorated by departments, student organizations and individuals. The pieces were then sewn together into 3 different quilts by WPC members, Women’s Leadership Council volunteers and others. The final quilts are hanging in the CDI, the Library and the MUB Commons throughout the month of April.

Square Aware is meant to bring raise consciousness the way the Clothes Line Project did for a couple of years using t-shirts, instead of quilt squares.

“The project is important because we need to raise public awareness about sexual violence and provide support and resources for the survivors,” says Kellie Raffaelli, CDI director. “Sexual violence is a public health, human rights and social justice issue – so it’s important to keep talking about it.”

Also during SAAM, a film called “The Hunting Ground” was shown on April 14, with a discussion following.

Other SAAM events happening this month are:

• “Walk A Mile in Her Shoes” - Speaker and Mile Walk: April 18 at the MUB, sponsored by the Society for African American Men, http://walkamileinhershoes.org/
• Dial Help Victims of Crime Week: April 19 - 25.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.