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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 12, 2015

THE MODERATOR: The athletic department is pleased to announce its partnership with campus on a national campaign to stop sexual assault and raise awareness and educate people on the issue. Joining us today are Director of Student Athlete Development, Bridget Woodruff; Jeanette Kowalik, from University Health Services, and Vitto Brown from the men's basketball team. Bridget and Jeanette will have some opening comments, and then we can take opening questions.

BRIDGET WOODRUFF: Thanks, Brian. "It's On Us" is a national campaign that was launched through the White House, focused on aiming -- aimed on changing the fundamental way that we view sexual assault and the language around it, and encouraging all of us to be part of that process and changing that landscape.

The athletic department was excited to illustrate our continued efforts in this area in partnering with several entities on campus to create these short films -- series of short films that we have played at home competitions and released through social media as well.

The videos are in support of the education that we do actual around this topic with our student-athletes, with our staff and our coaches as well. So being able to use, you know, the athletic department platform to share this important message with something we are excited about, so we can make -- share that message and make an impact with the UW Madison community, the campus and Badger fans across the nation as well, too.

DR. JEANETTE KOWALIK: The University Health Services is the student health service here on campus, so we serve all students on campus, and we were very excited to learn about the opportunity to leverage the national campaign, the "It's On Us" campaign. So the campaign is very simple: To create an environment where sexual assault and sexual misconduct is not tolerated. So the role for everyone on campus is to make this a reality. So that's our goal is to partner with everyone on campus, athletics, various schools and colleges to make sure that we set the stage that sexual misconduct and sexual assault will not be tolerated on campus.

One step to do that is to take the pledge. So "It's On Us", go to itsonus.org, go online and sign the pledge and also take advantage of opportunities on campus to create various events, create a climate where sexual assault and misconduct is not tolerated, whether it be a residence hall, anywhere on campus, just to step up and be an active bystander and to look out for everyone on campus. Thank you.

Q. Jeanette, how prevalent is sexual assault on campus? Any idea?
DR. JEANETTE KOWALIK: Well, according to our recent sexual assault climate survey, the ratio for female undergraduate students is 1 in 4, so, again, that's a sample but that's a good snapshot of the prevalence of sexual assault and related behaviors on campus that are not acceptable, such as stalking, harassment, it covers everything. So we want to make sure that we're educating students as far as what is appropriate behavior, whether they missed that lesson somehow before they got to campus, but we want to make sure we create a very tolerant and respectful environment for everyone on campus.

Q. Vitto, why is this cause important to you?
VITTO BROWN: Because like she said, 1 in 4 -- I didn't know it was that big, first off, and that's just not okay. And I know people have been sexually assaulted, and I don't even feel comfortable, you know, just bringing anything sexual up to them, because it's a soft subject.

It's just not okay to take advantage of women in that way.

Q. Jeanette, what more can be done besides a campaign like this? How can it be stopped aside from having security almost everywhere, you know?
DR. JEANETTE KOWALIK: Right, well, we have a task force that was commissioned by the administration to make sure that everyone is clear as far as what resources are available on campus. We have confidential reporting resources, there's various levels of interaction that can take place on campus as far as getting resources and assistance and providing supportive services to survivors, that's another step, creating awareness as to what the process would look like as someone experienced harassment, sexual assault, so on and so forth.

So that it takes away some of the stigma or assumptions that one could be concerned about what happens when they report and the process. That's part of it, it's educating everyone on campus what that process looks like.

Q. Jeanette, I think we all know how visible the student-athletes are at UW, and how much the rest of the student body maybe, for lack of a better word, looks up to them. How important is it to get faces like Vitto's on board with this campaign?
DR. JEANETTE KOWALIK: Oh, very important. I'm glad he's here! (Laughter.) But the concern is to leverage leadership. Who do students look up to? Who does the community look up to? Athletes, and sport is a big part of being here on campus. It's homecoming week, so this is a wonderful time to bring attention to this cause. But we want to continue to engage student-athletes, as well as other leaders on campus, because, again, once one graduates, this is the type of mentality that we want to support beyond college, that this is not tolerated.

BRIDGET WOODRUFF: I think a part of it, too, is by standard intervention. If our student-athletes can step up and take action, they can be that leader but showcase to everyone else on campus that that's part of the solution as well.

Q. Vitto, as a student-athlete do you discuss this -- you were saying it was a "soft" subject, but do you discuss this amongst one another, and do you view yourself as someone that, you know what, I can make at this difference in this regard, and I'm not afraid to tell somebody, "Let's stop this. What are you doing?"
VITTO BROWN: Yeah, we discussed it a little bit, not very often, but I agree with what she said, you know, being in the leadership role and being visible to everybody, I know myself I don't watch the news as much as I probably should, so I might not see these campaigns, but as a student or a student-athlete I'm going to look at sports channels and see the sports and therefore will see the "It's On Us" campaign because of this, so I think the visibility is a big aspect as well.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else? All right, thanks, guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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