Student groups on the Mississippi State University campus are raising awareness about sexual assault.
A study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014 said 19 percent of female students had been sexually assaulted, but only 5 percent reported the incident to school officials or the police.
A case study provided by the U.S. Department of Justice found six percent of male college students are victim to sexual assault, but less than one percent report the assault to the proper authorities.
Raising awareness is the first step to combatting these issues.
The MSU Student Association is hosting their annual “It’s On Us Week,” an initiative to prevent sexual assault on college campuses.
One of the events planned is “Steps 2 Stop Sexual Assault,” directed by the SA Diversity and Outreach Committee.
Bria Henderson, a communication major and co-director of the committee, said the only way to stop this social pandemic is by banding both genders together.
“We just want to bring awareness to the issue of sexual assault and make sure people understand that it’s not just a female issue,” the senior from Madison said. “We want to create allies in women as well as men.”
To achieve this goal, all students who participate in “S2S” will walk a quarter mile around the junction wearing high heels and neckties, to symbolize inclusion across genders. 
“We want to create allies in men and women for victims of sexual assault,” Henderson said. “So, we want men to wear heels and women to wear ties to show their advocacy and support.”
Henderson said she is expecting a big turnout for the event, which will include guest speakers from various backgrounds.
“We should have at least 50 people. We invited different student organizations, including all of Greek life.” Henderson said.
The walk will take place at 6 p.m. Nov. 2 in the Junction, but all participants should be in the Junction at 5:30 p.m.
Henderson said all students who would like to participate need to RSVP on MSU OrgSync to ensure the organization has enough shoes for all participants. She also said those involved who are not walking can lend their support by holding signs.
The MSU SA is also taking proactive steps to ensure students have the correct resources to report any act of sexual assault or misconduct. To achieve this goal, the SA proposed putting hotline numbers on all MSU IDs.
The numbers the SA wants to provide are that of the campus police department, the national suicide prevention hotline and the counseling center’s 24-hour number.
Layton Little, SA vice president, said the SA wants to put the numbers on IDs to ensure that students have a practical and quick way to contact the correct helpline.
“We wanted to give students something tangible that they will always carry around with them, and we thought that the student ID was the best way to do this,” Little said.
The SA’s goal is to have the numbers issued on MSU IDs by next fall, to ensure incoming freshmen have the numbers at their disposal.