The New Mexico State University Office of Health Promotion (OHP) is working to tackle the red zone and spread awareness about sexual assault. The OHP team tabled outside of the Corbett Student Union on Wednesday, Sept. 3, to engage with students and inform them of their services.  

“We’re out here talking about the red zone, which is a time period between the beginning of the school semester until Thanksgiving break, where sexual assault cases are significantly increased,” said Jude Betancourt, the OHP’s Health Education Specialist. 

More than 50% of assaults on college campuses happen within the first four months of the fall semester, according to a pamphlet passed out by the OHP volunteers. Betancourt said the beginning of the year is the best time to reach students.   

How can sexual assault be prevented? 

“Speaking about these topics is important,” Betancourt said. “We’re trying to break the stigma, you know, just talking about these deeper topics. So, yeah, definitely awareness is probably one of the bigger, most important steps of preventing [sexual assault].”  

At their table the OHP passed out pamphlets, cup covers, and other promotional items. These items provided information leading students to the Aggie Health and Wellness Center for counseling services and a reporting center for sexual assault. 

The OHP peer educator, Sierra Symons, is a third year NMSU student. She also works with Active Minds, a student led on campus organization that helps students lead conversations for culture change and advocate for their community. Symons said Active Minds works with the OHP to provide students with someone to talk to and a place to feel seen and heard. 

Symons said it’s important for her to be immersed with the students at NMSU and talk with them. 

“This is my community, so to be able to provide resources that I didn’t even know we had when I first started as a freshman is really special to me,” Symons said. “Students just often don’t know where to go, how to report, or who they can talk to, in terms of their mental health,”  

Symons continued by saying that being a student helps take away the power dynamic of talking to an NMSU staff member. 

“You know I experience the same things as a lot of other students on campus; we’re in the same place in life so I can relate to them,” Symons said.  

The OHP put up red ribbons around the trees stretching from around Corbett Student Union to down I-Mall. These ribbons were used to help signify the red zone and get students curious.  

According to John Hopkins University new students are particularly vulnerable during the Red Zone due to not being as familiar with campus, social events, and being unaware of resources.

“It is never a person’s fault if they experience sexual violence,” The John Hopkins blog said. “It is the fault of the person who exploited vulnerabilities for their own gratification and to cause harm.”  

The OHP will hold tabling events throughout the year for different issues such as alcohol and drug safety and education, domestic violence awareness, and physical and mental health. Throughout the year, The OHP provides access to birth control, STD testing and other health resources located at the Health and Wellness Center.  

Links to OHP resources can be found on their Instagram, @ohpnmsu, along with information on upcoming events.