April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

As part of the College of Staten Island’s commitment to ensuring a safe campus environment for all community members, and recognizing and supporting survivors of sexual assault, CSI will be partaking in Denim Day on Wednesday, Apr. 26. We are asking all campus community members to wear denim that day as a show of solidarity to survivors of sexual assault.

Denim Day began as day of awareness in 1999 as a response to an Italian case that saw the sexual assault conviction overturned by the Italian Supreme Court. In their decision, the justices wrote that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped her attacker remove them — making consent implicit. Protests followed in both Italy and the United States, and now we mark the day by wearing jeans (or some type of denim) to show solidarity with sexual assault survivors.

In addition to CSI’s participation in Denim Day on Apr. 26, the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office (RCDA) has invited members of the campus community to participate in the SI Denim Day Rally on Tuesday, Apr. 25. The rally will take place at 3:00pm on the steps of Borough Hall, located at 10 Richmond Terrace. Please see the online flier for details.

Please join the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s (ODEI) Institutional Equity and Title IX division in a showing of support and solidarity for victims and survivors of sexual assault.

By ODEI Institutional Equity & Title IX