Affirmative Consent

The Consent Campaign’s final exhibit of 2016 was left to KSU students to bring to life. Between the Hub and the main part of the student center, we put up a sheet of paper with the title “Consent Is…” and allowed students to fill out purple and teal sticky note hearts with what consent means to them, how they ask for consent, or how they give consent. The responses included “respect,” “mutual,” “enthusiastic,” “still needed after 5 years,” “mandatory,” “**** yes!,” “sober,” and “love.”

By leaving the responses open, we were able to both gauge students’ understanding of consent after witnessing our demonstrations and promote conversation and examination of what consent means. We were encouraged that when asked to think about it, students’ answers reflected principles of affirmative consent.
The display was covered by the end of the day and was featured by Fusion Magazine. It will be displayed again to remind students of what they know to be true of consent and encourage the administration to recognize a student body that is ready for affirmative consent to be a part of KSU culture and policy.