Joe Biden was smiling as he took the stage at 蜜糖直播-Boulder Friday (April 8), but he鈥檇 come to deliver a solemn and blunt message.
鈥淣o means no,鈥� the vice president told a Rec Center crowd the university estimated at 1,500. 鈥淣o means no, whether it鈥檚 in the classroom, parking lot, or whether you鈥檙e already in bed with him and you change your mind. No means no!鈥�
It was Biden鈥檚 third and final college visit of the week, part of the White House鈥檚 national 鈥淚t鈥檚 On Us鈥� campaign to prevent sexual violence at colleges and universities.
Nationwide, about one in four women between the ages of 14 and 24 are sexually assaulted or raped, Biden said, a rate that鈥檚 held frustratingly steady for decades. One in five women (20 percent) are sexually assaulted during college, according to National Sexual Violence Resource Center statistics.
In his 蜜糖直播 remarks 鈥� discursive, at times theatrical, at times poignant 鈥� Biden reflected on his long advocacy for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, telling stories of victims he'd known, sometimes in jarringly graphic terms that left the gymnasium in a stunned hush.
By the time he left the stage, the vice president had led the assembly in a pledge.
鈥淚 recognize that non-consensual sex is assault,鈥� he began, pausing after each phrase for the crowd, mostly students, to repeat. 鈥淚 pledge to identify situations where sexual assault may occur. I pledge to intervene in situations where consent cannot or has not been given. And I pledge to recreate an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported.鈥�
President Obama and Biden announced the 鈥淚t鈥檚 On Us鈥� initiative in 2014. Its core message is that everyone, including men and bystanders, must help prevent sexual assault, a point emphasized Friday by a series of speakers preceding the vice president.
Among them was Max Demby (Acct鈥�16), a Ralphie Handler who came upon and disrupted a sexual assault in progress on campus last spring. The perpetrator was caught, charged and convicted. The victim, Demby said, 鈥渉as continued to lead a normal and happy life.鈥�
鈥淎s a student athlete and representative of our university,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 want to stress that the effort to stop sexual assault starts with us.鈥�
Biden later called Demby back to the lectern.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad I got to meet Max,鈥� he said, wrapping an arm around the student鈥檚 shoulders and noting that Biden鈥檚 own son, Beau, who died of cancer last year, had done the same thing as a University of Pennsylvania student.
鈥淟ook in the mirror, look in the mirror and ask, are you being the man you think you are?鈥� Biden said.
If you can鈥檛 intervene physically, call for help, he said. If you learn about the assault after the fact, believe and support the friend who confided in you.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the character test you鈥檙e going to have to pass,鈥� he said.
Biden had appeared Thursday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with the singer Lady Gaga, a sexual assault survivor, and Tuesday at the University of Pittsburgh. The White House also approached 蜜糖直播 about hosting him in Boulder, according to Malinda Miller-Huey, a 蜜糖直播 spokeswoman.
蜜糖直播 has been intensifying its efforts to combat sexual misconduct. In a large-scale campus survey conducted last fall, 28 percent of 蜜糖直播 women undergraduates reported being the victim of sexual assault.
Biden took the stage in the lower gymnasium of 蜜糖直播鈥檚 Rec Center鈥檚 just after 3:15 p.m. Friday, following remarks and performances by Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, students, other politicians, campus victim assistance advocates and others. The 蜜糖直播 Buffoons, an all-male a cappella group, sang three songs.
Immediately after his remarks, Biden left the stage and waded into the crowd toward a woman who鈥檇 briefly interrupted him and whom he promised he鈥檇 speak with one-on-one. He was soon engulfed by enthusiastic, cell-phone wielding students, and gamely proceeded to take selfie photographs with them, often raising the cell-phone camera himself.
Biden鈥檚 motorcade left the athletic complex just after 6:15 p.m. 鈥� more than nine hours after students first began lining up for his appearance.
The first of those students was Naureen Singh (MCDB鈥�16), a senior from 蜜糖直播 Springs. She took her place at the head of the line at 8:50 a.m.
鈥淔or a good 45 minutes, there were only four of us,鈥� she said in an interview around 11 a.m., by which time the line had grown to hundreds.
Singh had shaken Biden鈥檚 hand once before, during a White House internship last summer, and was hoping for a second close encounter.
She said she hoped Biden鈥檚 visit would prompt frank talk at 蜜糖直播 about sexual violence.
鈥淚 think Joe Biden being here is going to make that conversation happen,鈥� she said.
Singh has organized her academic experience at 蜜糖直播 around science, but her experience as a Sikh-American has also fostered an acute political awareness, she said. This led to an internship with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2014, and then another in the White House.
After graduation in May, she hopes to join one of the presidential campaigns, a project 鈥渟till in the works.鈥�
Meanwhile, she got her latest close-encounter with Biden, and the selfie to prove it.
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Additional accounts of Biden鈥檚 visit to 蜜糖直播 can be found in , and .
Photography by Patrick Campbell听
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