USU Asks Community to 'Start by Believing' Survivors of Assault

Utah State University is kicking off Sexual Assault Awareness Month by participating in its sixth annual Start by Believing Day on Wednesday, April 5.

Pledge booths will be set up on USU’s Logan, Eastern and Blanding campuses for students, employees, and other community members to take the pledge to Start by Believing and support survivors when they disclose an experience of sexual assault. Members of USU Statewide Campuses can take the pledge at startbybelieving.usu.edu.

In 2022, employees and students from across USU’s statewide system made up approximately 80% of the total Start by Believing pledges from the state of Utah — demonstrating a commitment from the university community to understanding and supporting survivors.

The Start by Believing campaign focuses on shifting the response from blame to support when survivors disclose incidents of sexual violence, helping to create a culture where survivors feel safe to come forward and receive the support they need to heal.

“Too often when a survivor discloses a sexual assault, they are blamed and shamed for their experience,” said Felicia Gallegos, outreach and prevention coordinator for USU’s Sexual Assault & Anti-Violence Information (SAAVI) Office.

“Even well-intentioned individuals can do this mistakenly,” she said. “Asking, ‘Why did you go there alone? Why didn’t you fight back? Why didn’t you report this sooner?’ in an effort to understand what happened actually ends up shifting responsibility from the perpetrator to the survivor.”

SAAVI director Jenny Erazo underscored this point. “When we question a survivor’s experience, rather than start by believing, we cause them to feel that they are responsible for what happened to them,” she said. “This can stop them from seeking the supportive resources they deserve and create immense barriers to reporting.”

According to the 2021 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct, the top reasons students did not tell anyone about their experience with nonconsensual sexual penetration or nonconsensual sexual touching included shame, fear and not thinking their experience was serious enough.

Since USU launched Start by Believing, as well as efforts informing students about how to respond to disclosures of sexual assault, rates of those who said they told a roommate or a close friend about their experience increased by nearly 20 percent. The percentage of those who said they told no one about their assault also decreased from 37.8 percent to 14.7 percent. USU is conducting new surveys this spring to get updates on this and related topics.

“How we respond to disclosures of sexual assault matters,” Gallegos said. “When a survivor discloses a sexual assault, they need to hear, ‘I believe you, I am so sorry this happened to you, how can I help?’”

In addition to pledge tables, USU and Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse will host an event from 4-6 p.m. on the Logan campus, in the International Lounge in the Taggart Student Center. Campus and local community members are invited to come learn more about Start by Believing and Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

For more information and to take the pledge to Start by Believing, visit startbybelieving.usu.edu.

SAAVI is celebrating its 20th anniversary at USU in 2023 by raising funds to help support the survivors who use its services. For more information on SAAVI, visit saavi.usu.edu. To contribute to the “$20 for 20 Years of SAAVI” campaign, visit usu.edu/aggiefunded/saavi.