By Molly Ashline, Staff Writer

Published in print Oct. 22, 2014

A college campus is a place that is not new to the problem of sexual assault. Recently, programs like BRAVE, Haven and Sexual Assault Awareness Week have been implemented not only to quell incidents of sexual assault on campus, but also to change the culture of making victims of sexual assault pariahs in many respects.

The Monument Quilt Movement aims to focus on the latter of these issues. The movement hosts workshops across the country, including the workshop that took place Wednesday, October 15 in the Cone Ballroom of the EUC.

According to The Monument Quilt’s website the movement is, “A crowd-sourced collection of thousands of stories from survivors of rape and abuse.”

The project held in the Cone Ballroom brought survivors and supporters together to create quilt patches from red fabric, paint and markers that held pictures or messages of fear, anger and hope. Survivors of sexual assault could come and go as they pleased and they were given the privacy of a separate room to create their quilt patches.

Supporters of survivors were also encouraged to drop by to create patches that held empowering messages and reaffirmed support.

People who came to the event were given handouts that not only acted as guides for supporters to help survivors, but also provided crucial information for survivors like counseling services and relaxation exercises. The volunteers who staffed the workshop provided counseling, creative support and information. One of these volunteers was BRAVE creator and Sexual Violence Campus Advocate Jenn Hamilton.

When asked how the Monument Quilt will impact UNCG’s campus, Hamilton said, “I think what it really does is it gets people talking about the fact that sexual assaults are happening way more than we really think they are. It’s kind of a taboo topic, so having programs like this is really important.”

In order to bring the Monument Quilt, Hamilton worked with Jeanne Irwin-Olson from the Wellness Center and Dr. Christine Murray a professor in the Counseling and Education Department.

Shelley Kappauf approached Dr. Murray after Murray wrote an op-ed piece in the News and Record about sexual violence.

Kappauf, whose daughter Hannah is one of the founders of the Monument Quilt, lives in Greensboro and sews the quilts together after the patches have been completed.

Kappauf and Hamilton share similar perspectives about the goal of the Monument Quilt.

“We want their [the survivors’] voice,” Kappauf said while speaking to the volunteers.The end goal of the Monument Quilt project is to bring all of those voices together in a tour de force in Washington D.C. All of the sexual assault survivor quilts will be brought to the capital next summer and displayed on the lawn of the National Mall. The quilts will be arranged to spell out the message, “NOT ALONE,” in order to bring support and attention to the issue of sexual assault to the national level.

Prior to the finale in D.C., the quilt created at the workshop on Wednesday will be displayed at the Survivor Art Exhibit from March to April in the Multicultural Center.