PAVE continues promoting remote resources for victims

Since the cancellation of all USD-hosted events until April 30, all student groups are coming to a close sooner than expected. For some clubs, they are creating new ways to help USD students remotely. 

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and USD’s Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment (PAVE) canceled over ten events on campus this spring. But they are doing what they can to continue being a resource to students dealing with sexual violence.

Claire Litzen, senior English major and PAVE Awareness chair, said all the students in PAVE are disappointed they had to cancel their events planned for April.

PAVE planned events including Motivational Mondays and YoteFloats, two different wellness courses with University Police and yoga classes at the Wellness Center.

Litzen said their largest event was a Coffee and Consent Panel where professors, faculty, administrators and students were set to discuss consent, sexual violence and what USD can do for their students. 

“It’s been pretty upsetting because we were working really hard to create these opportunities for students,” Litzen said. 

Even though the international COVID-19 pandemic has been an issue since early January, PAVE was unaware of the cancellations prior to the announcement.

Kathryn Opitz, a graduate accounting major and treasurer of PAVE, said there are a lot of things still up in the air for all student organizations. 

“There are still so many unanswered questions about reimbursements and how we are supposed to handle cancellations and we do not know when we will have the answers,” Opitz said. 

PAVE worked alongside many different people to make these now canceled events possible.

“We coordinated with other organizations and faculty for these events and there were a lot of people moving their schedules around for us,” Litzen said. 

Though many of the PAVE executive board members are graduating this semester, Litzen said they are still looking to the future.

“All of the things we had planned are all events we can replicate which I believe is very promising for the future of PAVE,” Litzen said. 

PAVE’s website and social media pages have resources for students who may need help during this time. 

“There are still options and we are still here for people to get connected with those options. We are still with you,” Opitz said. 

The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-4673.