DeKALB | The Student Association’s It’s On Us campaign will be partnering with Health Services to offer bystander intervention courses this semester.

Two years ago, SA joined the campaign which is a presidential task force that aims to work with universities to prevent sexual assault. NIU is one of more than 200 student leader groups the White House has partnered with for the national campaign, according to an Oct. 12, 2015, Northern Star article.

Health Services offers bystander intervention courses, but SA plans to partner with it to help facilitate the sessions, said SA President Giuseppe LaGioia.

Officials will teach students about sexual assault awareness and prevention, LaGioia said. He hopes to have the classes open by October.

“We both had similar campaigns with It’s On Us, so I kind of wanted to bring them together,” LaGioia said. “Getting the SA involved [with the wellness center] was an initiative I wanted to take on over the summer, so that’s what I’ve been working towards.”

LaGioia said he hopes to continue marketing the campaign by tabling and hanging posters.

“We have our own initiatives that we plan on taking as SA,” LaGioia said. “We want to keep it going, because it’s a great campaign.”

LaGioia said his brainstorm process for the campaign starts with research about what strategies received the most feedback.

“I like doing a lot of research,” LaGioia said. “I want to see what’s been done in the past and see what worked and what hasn’t worked. I read those and see if they can be better. I communicate with a lot of different people to see what they think about it.”

One in five women and one in 71 men will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website. SA Speaker Christine Wang said prevention is the best way for students to protect themselves from sexual assault.

“Obviously there will always be some times where you can’t prevent it and it’s not anyone’s fault except the perpetrator, but you have to be smart about the decisions you make,” Wang said.

The campaign’s YouTube channel features videos of celebrities discussing the importance of consent prior to sexual encounters.

“There’s one thing I can never have sex without,” actor John Cho said in a YouTube video on the campaign’s channel. “It’s not something I can carry in my wallet or something I take. It has to be given to me. It’s consent. Sex without it is not sex. It’s rape.”

Videos of celebrities delivering messages are not the only campaign strategy. With preventative measures, Wang said the rate of crime can be reduced.

“I mean, I’m not going to walk home alone from Greek Row to New Hall at midnight,” Wang said. “I’m not [going to] do that. I’m [going to] ask someone to walk with me or have to ask someone to drive me. Preventative measures are always the best way to make sure incidents of crime and everything like that low.”

Wang said bystanders can play an important role in sexual assault prevention.

“It’s only better to speak up now than regret it later that you didn’t speak up,” Wang said.