Throughout April — Sexual Assault Awareness Month — UCSB will present a line up of activities designed to end rape and sexual violence in the student community.
One of the month’s main events is the 33rd annual Isla Vista Juggler’s Festival & Vaudeville Show. Organized by the UCSB Juggling Club and the Santa Barbara Juggler’s Association, the celebration is being held throughout the weekend in honor of Patty Laney, a UCSB student and juggling enthusiast who was raped and murdered 33 years ago.
In her honor, all proceeds from the event will go to rape counseling and prevention programs at the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center. The festival will take place in Robertson Gym and caters to all skill levels, from the fumbling newbie to the most dexterous of experts.
The event will culminate in a public performance in Isla Vista Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at a cost of $10 for adults and $5 for seniors, students and children.
April also brings the “It Affects Me” campaign — a weeklong series of events put on by Students Stopping Rape — to campus.
As part of the campaign, a discussion entitled “Can Men Be Raped?” will be held in the multipurpose room of the Student Resource Building at 6 p.m. today. A performance and art exhibition, “Expressions! Express Yourself Against Rape,” will follow at 9 p.m.
Tomorrow, there will be a performance of “S.O.A.R.S. – Stories of a Rape Survivor” held at 9 p.m. in the MultiCultural Center. The event will chronicle the tale of a woman’s recovery from sexual assault through modern dance, spoken word and music.
Patty Monory, a coordinator for Students Stopping Rape, said the purpose of “It Affects Me” is to fight the misconception that rape is “someone else’s problem.”
“The campaign focuses on spreading awareness about sexual and education on how it affects us all regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, economic background and so forth,” Monory, a second-year Chicano/Chicana and feminist studies major said.
The week of April 13, Take Back the Night — a campus organization dedicated to actively preventing sexual violence and empowering women — will host a series designed to educate the community through discussion and artistic expression.
Take Back the Night’s weeklong festivities will culminate in a festival featuring a performance by singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs, a march through Isla Vista and an open mic forum for survivor testimonies. For the duration of the week, members will adorn campus bike paths with 500 flags that represent their statistic that 500 individuals are victims of sexual assaults on campus every year, Janelle Mungo, a TBN co-chair, said.