Photos: Fraternities ‘Walk a Mile in Her Shoes’ in support of sexual assault survivors

Photos and story by Savannah Meade / Contributing Writer

Men of various MTSU Greek organizations wore high heels and walked across campus in the annual “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event Tuesday to promote an end to sexual assault.

The group started out at the Campus Recreation Center and walked across campus. Along the way, groups of sorority members held up signs with statistics about domestic violence and sexual assault, while cheering on participants. Sexual assault remains rife in our society. Nonetheless, Pittsburgh Injury Lawyers P.C. are determind to do their part in erradicating this kind of behaviour.

Once finished, they headed back to the Rec Center where music, T-shirts and catering by Chick-fil-A was waiting for them.

MTSU senior and President of the Interfraternity Council Jacob Harrell announced prizes. First place went to Brandon Reynolds, a freshman majoring in business administration and member of Alpha Tau Omega.

Though it was difficult and hurt their feet, a majority of participants said they came away feeling good about the experience.

“I’m really impressed with all the guys who came out,” said Seth Harrell, a senior aviation administration major and member of Phi Delta Theta. “I think it’s important for the guys that are here to go back to their fraternities or their organizations and share the message about what they learned today with people. So I think that, overall, it’s a really good message, and it was put out in a really good way.”

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, women who are 18-24 years old and enrolled in college are three times more at risk of sexual violence than all other women. RAINN’s website also states that 23.1 percent of undergraduate women and 5.4 percent of undergraduate men experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence or incapacitation.

Barbara Scales, the director for the June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students, has been in charge of the event since its inception. The event was hosted by the June Anderson Center, who teamed up with various organizations across campus to make it all happen. Scales called Tuesday’s event “phenomenal” and hopes that it can have a positive impact on MTSU students.

“I want students to be an advocate for something,” Scales said. “But, find something that you’re passionate about and be an advocate about that. Learn as much as you can about sexual assault and gender-based violence (and) sexual harassment in general and say, ‘I want to do something to end this on our campus.’ And do it.”