In an effort to battle sexual assault, the student-run Detroit Prevention and Awareness in the Community, or DPAC, is teaming up with UDM’s Honors Program to bring students a screening of the critically acclaimed documentary “The Hunting Ground.”
The event will be held on McNichols campus on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. The screening is free to all students with a suggested donation to DPAC. It will also include a question and answer session with the movie’s editor, Doug Blush.
DPAC President Marianne Grima is optimistic about the impact this event could have on the UDM community.
“There are a lot of eye-opening statistics in this movie,” Grima said. “We hope that students really take notice of the severity of what is happening with sexual assault all over the country.”
“The Hunting Ground” is an expose’ of the rape culture at college campuses. It includes the inspiring true stories of some sexual assault survivors who are working to bring about change.
The showing of this film is in alignment with DPAC’s ongoing mission to help prevent and spread awareness about sexual assault on college campuses and in the community.
“With an event like this, I hope that our university and our community begin to take notice of what we are doing and the message we are spreading,” Grima said. “Unfortunately, we live in a society where these things happen. Hopefully, this movie will bring light to just how serious it is.”
The involvement of UDM’s Honors Program is part of an annual effort to bring a topic of interest to the university in a yearly symposium.
Honors Program co-director Jason Roche has arranged for the film’s editor to lead a question and answer session following the screening.
“We felt this film would be an excellent opportunity to get the campus involved,” Roche said. “This is an issue that hits home for a lot of college students.”
Roche said that this event could help use the power of peer pressure in a positive way.
“I’m hoping that the people who watch this will exert pressure on those who talk or even joke about this sort of thing,” he said. “Hopefully, that will lead to a change in behaviors and culture over time.”
Flyers have been posted around campus this week with more specific details regarding the event.
For additional info, contact Roche at rochejj@udmercy.edu or Grima at grimamr@udmercy.edu.
