Today marks the first day of the week-long “kNOw MORE” campaign, which hopes to educate the UCSB and Isla Vista communities about dating and sexual violence.

Teaming up for the first time, Students Stopping Rape and Sigma Alpha Zeta Sorority Inc. — whose national philanthropy focuses on preventing domestic violence — organized the “kNOw MORE” campaign in conjunction. Kicking off today with an all-day fundraiser at Sam’s To Go followed by a Silent March at 9:00 p.m., the campaign will come to a close with spoken word, music and dancing at an event titled “kNOw MORE, say more,” to be held Friday from 7 to 11 p.m. in the Student Resources Building Multi-Purpose Room.

Patty Monroy, an intern for the Rape Prevention Education Program, explained the campaign’s name in a recent interview.

“The name has two meanings: knowing more so there will be no more,” Monroy, a third-year feminist studies and Chicano studies major, said.

Aracely Rodriguez, a third-year global studies major and a member of Sigma Alpha Zeta, said she hopes the campaign will help to end what she described as a taboo on domestic violence and encourage victims to speak up.

“Domestic violence is not talked about openly, but hopefully, with this campaign, everyone will be able to talk about it and stop it,” Rodriguez said.

Adrienne Quinn, also a Rape Prevention Education Program intern, said working with Sigma Alpha Zeta has greatly expanded the scope of the campaign’s events.

“It’s more than just rape prevention,” Quinn, a fifth-year environmental studies and biological sciences major, said. “It’s also about reinforcing a culture of equality.”

Among this week’s “kNOw MORE” workshops will be a street harassment seminar titled “Don’t Grab My Ass,” and “No Excuse to Hurt,” an educational program about the role of alcohol in dating and sexual violence. In addition, there will be a film screening of “Twilight” in the Multicultural Center on Thursday, followed by a discussion led by UCSB graduate student Danielle Borgia, who contends that Bella and Edward’s relationship is abusive.

According to Quinn, one in four women will be the victim of a rape or attempted rape during their college years.  This kind of statistic, she said, is information that the whole student body should be aware of.

“I would like the campaign to make a significant portion of the community think critically about how dating violence and sexual assault affects them,” Quinn said. “…hopefully with this campaign more people will get involved.”

Sexual harassment is reported frequently during Halloween weekend in Isla Vista, Monroy said, and many sexually assaulted students come in to see counselors after the holiday, where they can receive appropriate counseling to help them come to terms with what happened.

“Blame is usually put on victims when alcohol is involved because perpetrators say the victim was drunk,” Monroy said. “….The purpose of [many of the workshops] is to take blame off the victim.”