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Vice President Joe Biden, left, stands with University of Colorado senior Max Demby, Biden honoring Demby for intervening to stop a sexual assault from occurring several days earlier,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>April 8, 2016. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Brennan Linsley/AP )
Vice President Biden wrapped up a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Week of Action campaign<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on Friday, part of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sexual Assault Awareness Month, at the University of Colorado in front of a packed audience, where he spoke about the need for each student to help change the culture of sexual assault.
The campaign is part of the White House’s<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It’s On Us<span style="color: Red;">*</span>initiative, launched in 2014, which urges students to make a “personal commitment to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault,” and which provides tools to help<span style="color: Red;">*</span>empower and equip students and administrations to both better understand and tackle the issue.
Biden asked the crowd to raise their right hands and repeat the It’s On Us<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pledge, what the organization says is a “personal commitment to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault.”
“I pledge to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>recognize<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that non-consensual sex is sexual assault. To<span style="color: Red;">*</span>identify<span style="color: Red;">*</span>situations in which sexual assault may occur.Throughout his speech, Biden called on college administrators to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>help make their campuses safe, and focused on the need to hear from the victims themselves.
To<span style="color: Red;">*</span>intervene<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in situations where consent has not or cannot be given.
To<span style="color: Red;">*</span>create<span style="color: Red;">*</span>an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported.”
“Every time you talk about it, it comes back. It comes back. It takes courage (to speak up), but they’re all saving lives,” Biden said. “Think about how many voices are on this campus that you haven’t heard but you know are there, crying silently.”
Vice President Joe Biden kisses University of Colorado sophomore Emma Beach after seeing her crying after speaking about sexual violence on campus as part of the “It’s On Us” campaign April 8, 2016, at the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Colo. (Photo: Jeremy Papasso/Daily Camera via AP)
The Vice President also praised Max Demby, a senior at CU, who intervened to stop a sexual assault on campus last spring.
After, Biden also took time to meet students, take selfies, and even comforted one student who had broken down into tears.
The Association for American Universities found that 23% of undergraduate women experienced sexual assault in 2015, and there are 174 universities under federal investigation for their handling of Title IX issues.
Brooke Fox, It's On Us, sexual assault, University of Colorado, Vice President Joe Biden, News<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
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