News National/International

Obama: Campus Sex Assault An Affront To Humanity

 

President Barack Obama says campus sexual assault is "an affront to our basic humanity.'' The White House has unveiled a new campaign to change the way people think about campus sexual assault.

A new public service announcement features Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other familiar faces telling viewers they have a responsibility to stop sexual assault.
 
The campaign encourages people on campus to make sure friends are safe and to intervene before an assault happens.
 
Jon Hamm of "Mad Men,'' Kerry Washington of "Scandal'' and NBA all-star Kevin Love are some of the familiar faces participating in the "It's On Us'' campaign.

Friday morning, the AP reported that six students at Southern Illinois University have been arrested in connection with two reported sexual assaults on the school's Carbondale campus last weekend, according to a newspaper report Thursday.
 
Four of the suspects - all 18 years old - were taken into custody last Saturday on suspicion of criminal sexual assault in the alleged attack on a fellow 18-year-old student, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. That person was treated at a hospital and released.
 
Two other students, ages 20 and 18, were arrested late Sunday as suspects in an alleged criminal sexual assault involving an 18-year-old who does not attend the school, the Post-Dispatch reported. That person also was treated at a hospital.

Rae Goldsmith, a spokeswoman for the school, said both cases were being investigated.