During her college years, one out of four women is the victim of a rape or attempted rape, 57 percent of which happen on dates.

The victims know the attacker 84 percent of the time.

One out of every five college students will have a direct experience with relationship violence.

On Sunday, March 26, the sixth annual Run for Respect will take place on Centennial Campus in hopes of creating awareness and lowering the alarming statistics of sexual violence.

Participants will take the 5K course at a run, walk or jog to help benefit the Women-to-Women program, the Men’s program and Interact of Raleigh.

The race isn’t just geared toward the benefit of women. “Men are many times secondary survivors. At least one in eight men has been sexually assaulted as a child,” Marianne Turnbull, Director of Health Promotion and instructor of the Women-to-Women training classes, said.

The idea for this race was formulated before the Women-to-Women and the Men’s program were initially established.

“It was a joint thinking process. I teach a class on sexual assault and relationship violence,” Turnbull said. “Back then, we decided we wanted to do a fundraiser.” This year Provost Larry Nielsen will be participating as well.

“All of us are pumped that the Provost is participating. Our goal — not only to raise money — is to spread the word,” Meredith Sugg, senior in communication disorders, said. “[This is] yet another great way that the NCSU Women-to-Women Program and the Men’s Program can receive the media coverage they deserve.”

According to Turnbull, the class started out with only women, but as the health minor was created, more men joined the program – five thus far.

“Men have a role to play in ending violence against women and other men. All men are not bad, and to suggest that is not fair to all the good men who do care and want to be a part of the men’s movement to end violence against women,” Larry Gourdine, Assistant Director of Health Promotion and instructor of the Men’s program, said. “The lack of men’s voices out there, standing up saying sexual violence against women was not acceptable, was missing. That missing voice was not being heard or involved in addressing sexual violence.”

Gourdine said men need a space to discuss the issues of sexual violence and how it affects everyone without the fear of being chastised for it.

“Sexual assault and rape are men’s issues and not just issues for women to deal with. Sexual assault and rape affect men; men are victims themselves,” he said. “The longer men view sexual violence as women’s issues, sexual violence will continue.”

All the students in the women’s and men’s programs are required to help organize the event, whether it is by sitting at the registration table or handing out prizes for the first five place-winners.

Along with many student groups, many community groups are helping with the race this year, as well. Some sororities are paying half the registration fee for members who participate in the race.

Through these efforts, Turnbull, Sugg and Gourdine all hope to create awareness and a more open forum for people to discuss these issues.

“More women are willing to come out and report what has happened to them. Guys are also starting to come forward and be involved,” Turnbull said. “It really is a slow process.”

Turnbull added that people in her classes have had to face these issues and see their importance.

“[I have witnessed] relationship violence in the life of a loved one,” Sugg said. “Statistics are on the rise, and college campuses are in no way excluded from them. Students view college as a time to ‘live it up’ and ‘experience everything’ in the moment. Try telling that to a classmate who was the victim of sexual assault or to your friend who is still being stalked online. Being aware and taking the time to educate yourself about these important issues may just keep you from being included in the next college statistic.”

A $4000 profit was made last year after expenses for the event were paid. This year, with the help of various groups and sponsors, the possibility of raising even more money is promising.

“Our goal is to raise money for a good cause, to educate and raise the awareness of students, faculty and staff about the importance of addressing and ending sexual violence and to have fun and let NCSU community know that we are committed to ending violence against women and men,” Gourdine said.

The organizers of the event continuously stressed the importance of education to help prevent acts of sexual violence from happening.

“Men are perpetrators, but women can use risk-reduction. Reality is, even with risk-reduction, it still happens,” Turnbull said.

Sugg suggested that educating society about sexual violence will shed a new light on the subject.

“If society would actually take the time to learn today’s statistics on rape, sexual assault, relationship violence, women in the media and stalking, I dare say anyone would not be effected in some way and would benefit with a new life changing outlook,” Sugg said.

The main purpose of the Run for Respect is to create awareness, and the organizers encourage everyone to take part in the event.

“Through this event, we hope to raise the awareness on campus about sexual assault and rape. Sexual assault and rape is not something people like to talk about,” Gourdine said. “You can’t address a problem if you don’t recognize that it’s a problem and [have] open dialogue about how to address sexual assault and rape on campus to take the necessary steps through providing prevention and education programs and awareness campaigns and events.”