Alfred State taking part in ‘It’s On Us’ campaign

Alfred State announces that it is participating in the "It's On Us" campaign.

The college began partnering with the White House and The Generation Project last semester for the campaign, which “promotes being an empowered bystander and sends the message that it is truly on all of us to help eradicate sexual violence on college campuses,” according to Nikkie Hockenberry, coordinator of Equity, Inclusion, and Title IX at Alfred State.

The college will screen the film "It Happened Here" April 13 at 6 p.m. in the Cappadonia Auditorium in the Orvis Activities Center on the Alfred campus.

“We are incredibly pleased to be following up the screening with a question-and-answer session with producer Marjorie Schwartz Nielsen and one of the subjects of the documentary, Sarah O'Brien,” Hockenberry said.

Nielsen began her professional career at the Nickelodeon network, producing non-fiction television for teenagers, and has been working with and writing for young audiences ever since. After associate producing documentaries for WNET and KCET, she spent the next 20 years writing feature films and original made-for-cable movies, and was a nominee for a Humanitas Prize.

She has worked with at-risk youth, starting with School on Wheels in Los Angeles missions and shelters, and created programs for Hollygrove Family Services, a non-residential facility for foster youth, and Art Division, a non-profit art school providing free classes, literacy programs, and resources for underserved youth in the Rampart district of Los Angeles.

O’Brien, a Vanderbilt University student athlete who was a victim of rape, has mobilized other survivors and activists and staged events, such as Take Back the Night and The Clothesline Project, where she presented a list of demands to Vanderbilt deans that have led to a revision of Vanderbilt’s policies.

“This is a unique opportunity to discuss the film and a topic that is on the country's radar with two individuals directly responsible for the film,” Hockenberry said.

The event is free and open to the public.