The Red Cup Project

Three thousand, seven hundred and eighty are the approximate number of sexual assaults that will occur on Pitt’s (Oakland) campus every year. Every 107 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted (Rainn.org).

Surveys conducted by The Campus Sexual Assault Study, on behalf of the White House Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice, released on April 29, 2014, show that one in five women and one in sixteen men will experience campus sexual assault every year; combining this data with a population of about 28, 617 on the Pittsburgh campuses (including both undergraduate and graduate schools) of the University of Pittsburgh, the American Association of University Women Pitt Chapter estimated the 3,780 number, and The Red Cup Project was born.

The Red Cup Project was a visual representation of how sexual assault affects students campus-wide, through the use of red cups, representing the approximately 3,780 people who experience sexual assault each year at Pitt. Red cups were chosen as the visual aid for this demonstration because most sexual assaults on college campuses occur under the influence of alcohol.

Starting around 9 a.m. on the morning of April 12th, 2016, members of Pitt’s AAUW came together to place the 3,780 red cups on the William Pitt Union lawn, along with posters noting various facts regarding sexual assault. From 12:30 pm to 5:00 p.m., students were able to view the display as well as write messages of support to sexual assault survivors on the red cups. Pitt’s AAUW intends to read all of the messages and send these words of support to local organizations providing help to sexual assault survivors. The campus frequency of sexual assault was the impetus for the event, and allowed the AAUW to represent the national statistics through the use of a product familiar to many students.

One big reason Pitt’s AAUW chose to hold this event was to increase awareness of how much of an issue sexual assault is on college campuses nationwide. According to a study conducted by The Center for Public Integrity, 95% of college sexual assaults go unreported--making it the largest unreported crime. Additionally, in today’s college system, it is easier for a student to get expelled from college for cheating than for a sexual assault crime.

Currently, national statistics suggest the chances of women being sexually assaulted on a college campus is now approaching 1 in 4. As for men, the number is predicted to be a lot higher than the current 1 in 16, since men are often more ashamed than women to come forward regarding their assault, in fear of being emasculated by peers. Another group that is underreported for sexual assault crimes is the LGBTQAI community. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, conducted in 2010, reported that 44% percent of lesbian women, 61% of bisexual women, 26% percent of gay men, and 37% of bisexual men experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime--yet when it comes to reporting sexual assaults, this community is greatly underreported.

Some misunderstandings about college sexual assaults relate to how they occur. Most people think that people are raped in an alleyway by some random person while walking home from a party; while this does happen, in reality 92% of female rape victims are assaulted by someone they know, and additionally, ⅔ of rapists on college campuses are serial offenders--with an average of six rapes each--meaning they often are aware of the crime they are committing, and often target their victims prior to the crime with the intent to sexually assault them (thinkprogress.org).

Sexual assault is something that can and most likely will follow a survivor for the rest of their lives; 80% of rape survivors suffer from chronic physical or psychological problems over time (pact5.org), ranging from issues with anxiety and depression, to difficulty sustaining a romantic relationship--moving past a sexual assault can take a lifetime, and Pitt’s AAUW wanted to bring awareness to how traumatic it can be.

Overall, the event was a huge success and brought this issue to the attention of many students campus-wide. Students were shocked by the number of cups that sat on the William Pitt Union lawn, in disbelief that this number represented survivors on a yearly basis. Several survivors approached members of Pitt’s AAUW and the display, and thanked them for bringing this issue to awareness on Pitt’s campus

Pitt’s AAUW paired with other organizations on Pitt’s campus for Sexual Assault Awareness Week (April 11th- 15th), in efforts to show the Pitt community how much of an epidemic sexual assault is on campuses nationwide. Pitt’s AAUW, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, The Pitt Police, and It’s On Us helped sponsor The Red Cup Project.

For more information about Pitt’s AAUW, follow them on twitter @PittAAUW.

Erin Ludlow is the Public Relations chair for Pitt AAUW, a Pitt student, and an Editorial Collective intern for The NewPeople.

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