CAMPUS
30 YEARS
CARING
Providing resources for assault survivors , decades before # MeToo .
BY TERESA WATANABE / LA TIMES
Used with permission
WHEN NANCY WAHLIG first started her fight against sexual assault , one company was marketing a capsule for women to stash in their bras and then smash to release a vile odor . Because of the very nature of society , the only person who can prevent rape is the woman herself , read a 1981 advertisement for the Repulse rape deterrent .
Ideas about how to prevent sexual violence have come a long way since then , and Wahlig has helped lead that evolution on college campuses . In 1988 , she started UC San Diego ’ s Sexual Assault Resource Center ( SARC ), the first stand-alone program of its kind at the University of California . Today , she remains the system ’ s most senior specialist .
Over the years , Wahlig , a licensed clinical social worker , has promoted a community-wide approach to prevention and watched people grow more aware of the problem . But nothing , she says , has rivaled the # MeToo and # TimesUp movements .
“ We ’ re like a rocket , and we ’ re just about to take off ,” she said recently . “ There ’ s so much momentum to change the culture , and it ’ s not quieting down .”
This year marks the center ’ s 30th anniversary , celebrated in April in conjunction with national Sexual Assault Awareness Month . In one of many activities , students , staff and faculty recently hand-painted pots and planted hardy succulents in them to symbolize the resilience of survivors .
LEGENDARY RESOURCE Founding director of UC San Diego ’ s
Sexual Assault Resource Center Nancy Wahlig has seen many changes in 30 years , but nothing so monumental as the # MeToo movement .
8 TRITON | FALL 2018