A new statewide pledge against sexual assault has come to colleges.

The “It’s On Us” campaign encourages everyone to become involved in ending sexual assaults, said Nick Neupauer, president of Butler County Community College.

Although a national campaign, the “It’s On Us PA Pledge” was introduced by Gov. Tom Wolf in January.

Slippery Rock University has participated in the program since October 2015.

Neupauer represented all 14 community colleges in Pennsylvania when he signed on to the statewide pledge.

“I think it’s an incredibly important message in today’s day and age,” he said.

In a time with such competition among colleges to enroll students and seek funding, Neupauer is glad that so many colleges have joined together to address and prevent sexual assault, he said.

BC3, which does not have residence halls on campus, can still be impacted by this issue, Neupauer said. Sexual assault can be a problem any time and any place.

“Someone said, ‘Well, we don’t have on-campus housing so we don’t need to worry about it,’” Neupauer said. But as a father, Neupauer said that does not matter.

“It doesn’t matter if they live in a dorm or at home, it could happen,” he said, adding sexual assault could occur on a date or at a party. “There are a lot of reasons why we at BC3 still signed on to this.”

The national campaign has four specific objectives, which are listed on the website, http://itsonus.org: “recognize that nonconsensual sex is sexual assault, identify situations in which sexual assault may occur, intervene in situations where consent has not or cannot be given and create an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported.”

For now, BC3 is waiting for directives from the state’s campaign on how to approach using social media to spread the message, Neupauer said. The college also will be looking to include the “It’s On Us” programming in the new-student orientations in the future.

SRU participated in the Week of Action from Nov. 7 to 13, when the school encouraged students to sign the pledge.

In April, SRU will host another Week of Action because April is designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, said Jodi Solito, director of the university’s women’s center.

Solito believes the program has a particular strength in how it involves everyone in the conversation about sexual assault.

“I think it’s important that we have a lot of people talking about or tweeting about it,” she said. “One of the problems with sexual violence is because of the shame (victims may feel), we don’t talk about it.”

The “It’s On Us” program also promotes intervening in situations that an individual may feel is becoming unsafe, she said.

“We live in a rape culture in our society so we continue to challenge and address that,” Solito said.

While Grove City College does not participate in the “It’s On Us” program, it does have similar programming in place to address sexual assault, according to Larry Hardesty, the college vice president for student life and learning.