[095] MTSU to screen ‘Hunting Ground,’ present panel on sex assault prevention Sept. 15

MURFREESBORO — MTSU will present a free public screening of the nationally acclaimed documentary “The Hunting Ground” on Tuesday, Sept. 15, followed by a panel discussion on preventing campus sexual assaults.

The event begins at Tucker Theatre, located inside MTSU’s Boutwell Dramatic Arts Auditorium, at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 15. Doors will open at 6 p.m.

A searchable campus map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParking2015-16.

Panelists include writer and philanthropist Ruth Ann Harnisch, an executive producer of the film, and civil rights activists Annie E. Clark and Andrea L. Pino, who are featured prominently in the film and are co-founders of the survivor advocacy group End Rape on Campus.

Representatives from MTSU also will be on hand to provide the latest information on the university’s resources for victims of sexual assault.

One in five women is sexually assaulted while in college, more often than not during her freshman or sophomore year, according to “Not Alone: The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault,” which was released in April 2014.

In 75 to 80 percent of those assaults, the report noted, the victim knows her attacker. And the film’s statistics indicate that nearly 90 percent of campus rapes go unreported.

“I believe this documentary is an important step in continuing the discussion of sexual assault, both on college campuses and in American society,” says MTSU’s Beverly Keel, who organized the event and serves as chair of the university’s Department of Recording Industry.

“This is a painful and uncomfortable conversation to have, but it is crucial to provide a safe environment to discuss the issues addressed in the film. We are fortunate to be able to hear from two of the women who are featured prominently in the film, as well as Ruth Ann Harnisch, who has been a national voice for women’s issues.”

A grant from the Harnisch Foundation is making the MTSU screening and panel discussion possible. You can watch the trailer for "The Hunting Ground" at http://youtu.be/GBNHGi36nlM.

“I became an executive producer of ‘The Hunting Ground’ because I want to end the societal attitudes that keep us from talking frankly about the prevalence of sexual assault and to change ‘no means no’ to a culture of enthusiastic and unambiguous consent,” said Harnisch, who established the Harnisch Foundation and is a former journalist and anchor at Nashville’s WTVF-TV.

“MTSU is to be commended for joining hundreds of schools in showing this important documentary and talking about the issues it raises. MTSU students are influential, and I hope this event will inspire them to use their power to change the shocking status quo.”

Oscar-nominated filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering directed and produced “The Hunting Ground,” an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival.

The documentary follows Clark and Pino, both of whom are college rape survivors, as they meet with other campus rape survivors across the country who want to file complaints against their universities.

The event is co-sponsored by MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry, the June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students, the MTSU student organization I Am Me, the MTSU Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council, MTSU Student Government Association and the MTSU chapter of the White House-initiated It’s On Us sexual assault prevention campaign.

For more information about this event, please call 615-898-5150.