DeKALB — The office of Affirmative Action and Equity Compliance invited students and faculty to paint their pinkie fingernails red Thursday in support of sexual assault victims.

The campaign strives to show victims of sexual assault their peers and community stand with them. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and NIU is participating in the efforts to raise awareness to the issues of sexual violence on college campuses.

Volunteers for Operation Jungle Red ran tables at DuSable and the Holmes Student Center bus turnaround, where they offered to paint participants’ pinkie fingernails.

This year’s Operation Jungle Red was hosted by Affirmative Action and Equity Compliance.

Elizabeth Schwartz, Office of Affirmative Action and Equity Compliance program services specialist, said Operation Jungle Red has returned to NIU since its introduction in 2010. The nationwide campaign started in 2008 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, to bring awareness to sexual violence on college campuses.

“We’re asking the NIU community to paint their pinkie nails red this month to show support for survivors of sexual assault,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz said this year’s event had numerous student volunteers to help the cause and raise awareness to the issue at hand.

“Particularly with the Operation Jungle Red event, seeing the red pinkie nails helps survivors to feel supported,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz said Affirmative Action and Equity Compliance is hosting several “Got a Minute” series events noon every Tuesday during April. Schwartz also said the April 24 “Got a Minute” talk revolves around teaching students to avoid being a bystander and to step in during potential sexual assault situations.

“[For] students interested in how they can do their part to prevent sexual violence, learn some good skills and strategies to safely step in and stop negative behavior when they see it occurring,” Schwartz said.

The women’s soccer team volunteered for Operation Jungle Red this year to show their support for survivors of sexual assault.

“Not a lot of people know that it’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and not a lot of people know how extreme sexual assault is even if it’s just on small campuses, so I think it’s important to have conversations just to make people aware,” said Delaney Loprieno, soccer player and senior biology major.

Madison Kaufmann, freshman business major and soccer player, said she never realized how often sexual assault occurred, but she knows people who’ve experienced it.

“I think sometimes it can be prevented,” Loprieno said.