Cosumnes River College’s Clothesline Project gave students, faculty and staff an opportunity to decorate and display T-shirts in support of sexual abuse survivors on April 11-13.

The Clothesline Project is a nationwide program that gives an artistic outlet to survivors of sexual abuse. CRC hosted the event for sexual awareness month in collaboration with WEAVE, a Sacramento organization that provides crisis-intervention services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“It allowed survivors a way of expressing themselves, unburdening themselves a little bit with whatever message they wanted to put on the T-shirts,” said Eva Rhodes, sexual assault awareness month coordinator. “In conjunction with that, they’re getting information about services that are available. And then it raises awareness for everybody else.”

Rhodes said 50 shirts were designed over the three days. The T-shirt table was open to everyone, and by the third day hanging shirts crowded the WEAVE tent with messages from both survivors and those indirectly affected.

Al Bacon, 53-year-old business major, sat at the table the last day of the event outlining his message “As precious as a choice” on an orange shirt. He knows many survivors of sexual assault.

“No one can actually tell a person how to recuperate from it. They’re lost in a situation they shouldn’t even be put in in the first place,” Bacon said. “When you take a person’s choice, you don’t know how it’ll impact them. Not just in that moment, but for the rest of their lives.”

Rhodes shared one story from WEAVE Campus Violence Prevention Coordinator Xitlalic Martinez about a sexual assault survivor who was unable to get help because she was not aware of free crisis services.

“This assault occurred, happened to her, and she’d been carrying it around for years and years,” said Rhodes.

Rhodes said that the survivor did not know where to turn to until Martinez was able to show her where she could find the support she needed.

“She just thought she had to deal with it on her own. And so Lalic talked to her and she found out all these services are free,” Rhodes said.

The objective of bringing the Clothesline Project to CRC’s campus was to raise awareness about the issue and resources available

“The Clothesline Project is a great visual display to honor those who have experienced domestic violence or sexual assault,” said 22-year-old human services major and WEAVE Education and Prevention Program Intern Danli Chen. “I think it’s really important for students to understand that these issues happen closer to them than they think.”

On CRC’s campus there have been five forcible and two non-forcible sex offenses reported 2012-2014, the most of any other Los Rios colleges, according to the Los Rios Jeanne Clery Disclosure report.

“When it occurs, when it happens if we handle it in a unified way, we send a powerful message,” said Bacon.

For more resources and information regarding sexual assault and domestic violence, visit WEAVE’s website at http://www.weaveinc.org/