H U Brave, which stands for Bisons Responding and Advocating for \'ictim's Empowerment, formed in spring 2017 after senior Cait!rn Denison ,,·ass xually assaulted in Januar~· 2017. Denison decided to become a l'Oice on Harding's campm for people ,,·ho ,,·ere dealing ,,·ith the tr::uma of sexual a sault. "I want people to feel empo,,·ered that if this happ ·ns ro them, the\" ha,·e an atmosphere where they can come forward :rnd talk about it and start to heal,'' Denison said. Deni~on's plan began by .peaking to people such a. President Bruce ,\IcLarty, Dean of Students and \ 'ice President of Studenr Life Zach Neal and Director of .\cademic Resource Sen·ices and Student Success Stephanie O'Brian. They immediately starred brainstorming how to bring 1\\\·areness to the subject. According to Denison, she ,,·as still dealing ,,·ith the trauma of her mm sexual assault, but sh<.: knew HU BraYe was needed on campus. The orga111zation began \\'ith a social media campaign to spread a,rnreness, and soon their feedback exceeded their expectations. After many other srndents, faculty and alumni began speaking out to share their stories, the~· decided f---1 U Brave should become an official campus organization, ,,·hich O'Brian belieYed would greatly help the Harding community. ·'\'(/e stand firmly on three E's: educate, empm,·er and encourage,'' O'Brian said. "\\'e ,,·ant to educate the Hardi ng cornmunit~· about the real it\" of sexual assault as \\'ell as sexual harassment. \Y/e want to empower people to stand up and speak out ,,·hen they see things happening ,,·hicl1 should not happen and also empower sun-ivors to stand up and move forward, and then to truly encourage thi. campus to come forward and support survi,·ors and help battle the prevalence of sexual assault as a Chri~tian community." tudent Success Librarian and HU BraYe sponsor Lisa Fuller believed HU Brave made an impact on individual students affected by sexual abuse, as \\'ell a~ the Harding community as a whole. Fuller \\'as also a part of the social media campaign and became a pan of the organization after speaking ,,·ith O'Brian. "By allo,\·ing people to hare their stories, H · Bra,·e has gi,·en courage and purpose to a group of people who preYiously felt isolated and shamed,'' Fuller said." J t has helped them move from being surYivors to being advocates for education and unJerstanding." I HU Brave takes a stand to stop sexual assault and support victims. The group held panels, fundraising even s and weekly meetings for members and others interes ed to become involved with the organization. // Photos oy Kazu Fu11sawa (J) -I C 0 m z -I (J) C -u -u 0 ::0 -I
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