This program was done by one of my friends at my undergraduate school, Western Washington University. But it is from the Red Flag campaign.

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The Flag Project was a passive program conducted by Residence Life and student leaders through Truman State University’s campus. The program was designed so that everyone on TSU had a flag that represented them in relationship to national statistics of sexual assault. The population of Truman is 6,616 students, faculty, and staff. The programming group collected information about the gender breakdown of the Truman community, and then found national statistics about the number of people who have been or will be victims of sexual assault in their lifetime. Once this information was attained, the programming group applied the statistics to Truman’s community.

The programming group ordered three colors of flags; white, red, and blue. The white flags represented the people who will not be victims of sexual assault, while the blue and red represented men and women who have been or will be victims of sexual assault. The placement of the flags was broken down by each individual residence hall and apartment complex. For example, one of our buildings had 554 residents and the flags were broken down by the following: 110 red flags, 38 blue flags, and 406 white flags. This was done for each of our nine residence halls. The remaining flags representing faculty, staff and off-campus students were placed in the center of campus on the Quad. In order to explain the meaning of the flags, posters were hung in each residence hall that defined the program. These posters also gave the statistics for each individual community and presented more facts about sexual assault. On the Quad there were two large sandwich boards. These gave the statistics and other information about sexual assault that represent those people who did not live on campus. Many other large posters and sheets contained information were hung throughout campus to perpetuate publicity for the program. The Flag Project could not have been as successful without the help of student advisors and other student leaders who helped put the 6,616 flags into the ground and remove them two days later. This labor intensive task was thought to be extremely time consuming. However, with the help of about 25 people, the flags that went up on the Quad, and only took about 45 minutes. Setting up the rest of the flags only took another 45 minutes. After two days of exposure, clean up only took an hour with about 15 volunteers.

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The goal of the program was to spread awareness of sexual assault to Truman’s population. Also and more importantly, the Flag Project supported the victims of sexual assault at Truman State University by letting them know that they were not alone. Ultimately, the program showed students, faculty, staff, and the Kirksville community that sexual assault is more prevalent than most realize. To accomplish these goals, the programming team spread a sea of white flags broken by the red and blue that represented their respective gender victims throughout campus.

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This passive program had two lasting effects on the Truman family including the local community. The first one, this Flag Project provided support for the victims of sexual assault. By doing this program, the victims of sexual assault felt comfortable in telling “their” story and felt more supported and at home on Truman’s campus. The second lasting effect was to instill a realization among the Truman family of the dangers and prevalence of sexual assault. While this is not an easily measured effect, the impression that the program left was obvious in the conversations amongst the Truman community.

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The program was extremely successful and could be seen through the curiosity of students during set up and take down of the Flag Project. Another success was the excessive conversation stimulated by the massive amounts of flags spread throughout campus. Furthermore, this was a campus wide program that could not be ignored by the Truman community. Whether or not people wanted to participate, they were forced to because everyone saw the flags and feel the lasting effects of the program. Everyone participated, everyone noticed, and everyone felt the Flag Project’s impact.

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This program can be easily adapted to other campuses. As a passive program it is simple with a powerful message. This simplicity allows any campus to conduct this program. The only barrier would be the cost of the flags. However, there are plenty of resources on your campus that would be willing to sponsor this type of a program. You may save money by only ordering the blue and red flags. This may be a more attractive offer for larger campuses. This will become a reoccurring program, where the costs will drop significantly. Truman considers the purchase of the flags an investment versus an expense. The programming team used www.lss.com to order the wire flags because they were easier to put into the ground.

1. Research the national statistics, which we found at www.drcc.org to find information on sexual assaults for men and women. 2. Apply research to the campus population. 3. Create posters that are hall specific. 4. Recruit volunteers 5. Recruit sponsorship 6. Set up a meeting time and place to set up flags. 7. Reserve space around campus to set up flags- probably need to work with grounds crew for these times. 8. Set up/take down flags.

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