Thiel College to participate Denim Day in observation of Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Posted April 26, 2022 Print

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- The Thiel College community is invited by Thiel athletics to participate in Denim Day on April 27, which is a global event held every year during the last Wednesday of April in observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Denim Day was started in response to a 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction based on the premise that the female victim’s jeans were too tight, therefore falsely implying that her rape was consensual because she would have had to help her attacker remove them. Following the verdict that overturned the conviction, women from the Italian Parliament protested by wearing jeans and standing outside the Supreme Court on the steps of the courthouse. News of the protest spread, and it quickly became an international event as groups from other countries held similar protests. The first official Denim Day event was held in Los Angeles in April 1999, and since then, it is observed globally on the last Wednesday of every April.

“As part of the NCAA, we always try to do programming for our student athletes for educational purposes and to bring awareness to national and global events,” said Thiel College senior woman administrator Carissa Eichmeyer, who is also the College’s men’s and women’s cross country and track and field coach. “We decided within Thiel Athletics that we would participate in Denim Day. It will be a great opportunity for us to participate in a global event while bringing awareness to our Thiel community.”

Students and members of the community are encouraged to wear jeans on Wednesday, April 27 in observance of Denim Day. Thiel athletics has partnered with the Thiel Student Government Association to have several activities related to Denim Day available in the Howard Miller Student Center on April 27, and there will also be a slideshow running on several TVs across campus providing information about Denim Day, sexual abuse, consent, and different hotlines to call if to report sexual abuse.