A chapter of a social movement called It’s On Us has recently started at CWU. It’s On Us is a social movement created to raise awareness and fight sexual assault against men and women on college campuses.

CWU’s chapter was started by Gretchen Kelley, an information technology and administrative management (ITAM) major at CWU.

“I have been interested in It’s On Us since it started back in 2014,” Kelley said. “I noticed there was no chapter on campus and I wanted to bring that to Central.”

Kelley said she needed to do an internship for her major and chose to get involved in It’s On Us.

“I chose this because I wanted to bring it to campus. I wanted to provide education about sexual assault and prevention and change the culture of victim blaming,” Kelley said. “I feel that this chapter of It’s On Us can help students at Central, especially any incoming freshman who may not have any kind of education on this topic.”

Sheila Avila, a student majoring in sociology, recently heard about the club coming to campus. After hearing about the cause, Avila said she was glad to hear a movement like this was being brought to CWU.

“I had an incident at the bar here in Ellensburg where I was speaking up against some guy who had harassed my friend. I was speaking up for her because he touched her without her permission,”  Avila said. “There were so many people around me, but nobody, no bystander, nobody, intervened to help me. The guy wouldn’t listen and his friends refused to acknowledge what he did was wrong.”

According to Avila, educating students on bystander intervention can be very beneficial to many students.

“I think that by educating people on what bystander intervention is and what it looks like, it would help so many people, because [sexual assault] happens all the time,” Avila said.

It’s On Us not only provides educational tools on bystander intervention, sexual assault awareness and consent but it also provides tools for survivor support.

“I think that bringing a club like this to campus is important because I have heard many of my friends say they have experienced sexual assault,” said Delveth Arrellano, a student majoring in elementary education.

As a future teacher, Arellano said he fears if people don’t become aware and educated on the topics It’s On Us covers, his future students may experience sexual assault in the future.

“This club could potentially help destigmatize it and help people feel more confident in speaking up about it,” Arrellano said.

Kelley pitched the idea to open an It’s On Us chapter to her advisor and is now finding ways to make her club come to life.

Due to campus being closed, Kelley said it has been hard trying to find club members and a club advisor.

To make up for the lack of in-person interaction, Kelley has found ways to reach out to interested students by creating a Facebook page.

“For the time being, I am trying to be as active as possible online, by sharing stuff,” Kelley said. “I understand that we’re not able to be on campus, but I’m hoping if [the quarantine] dies down, we’ll be on campus and create events for students to attend.”

Kelley said for now, she will be focusing on recruiting members by doing giveaways and spreading information about the cause.