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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Sen. Bob Casey voice support for campus protesters







Gov. Tom Wolf takes to Twitter to voice his support for Penn activists fighting against sexual assault on campus. | Courtesy of Governor Tom Wolf

The flyers posted on Tuesday morning with pictures of a provocative email from an off-campus organization and emblazoned with the words “THIS IS WHAT RAPE CULTURE LOOKS LIKE” continued to make waves the next day with mentions from elected officials and nods from local and national news outlets.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf tweeted early in the morning, “Stand up like these @Penn students — take the @ItsOnUs pledge to help keep students safe from sexual assault." He signed it “—TW” to make clear that the tweet was from him and not a staffer.

"It’s On Us" is a national campaign against sexual violence on college campuses.

To further promote the campaign, Wolf tweeted later, “Everyone can play a part in eliminating sexual assault on campuses,” and included the link to take the "It’s On Us" pledge.

Stand up like these @Penn students -- take the @ItsOnUs pledge to help keep students safe from sexual assault. -TW https://t.co/8vkql204K0— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) September 7, 2016

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) also acknowledged the flyers in a tweet, writing “Yes, this is what rape culture looks like, thank you @penn students for standing up.”

Yes, this is what the rape culture looks like, thank you @penn students for standing up cc @dailypenn https://t.co/TlMemOorwJ— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) September 7, 2016

BuzzFeed posted a story about the flyers around noon with the headline “UPenn Student Responds to Sexist Email With ‘This Is What Rape Culture Looks Like’ Flyers.” The official Facebook page for the documentary "The Hunting Ground," about campus sexual violence, posted a status about the protest that said in part, "Students are working to expose University of Pennsylvania’s #RapeCulture by posting fliers of a creepy email sent to freshmen girls."

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Business Insider and The Chronicle of Higher Education also published their own articles about the event.

Groups on campus continued to make their condemnation of the email heard. Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention, or ASAP, decried the email in a statement:

“We strongly condemn the specific statement that was recently circulated, as well as all those that have and will marginalize and threaten members of our community,” they wrote. “We challenge the Penn community to recognize that this is not an isolated incident and to use the ensuing anger as a catalyst for continued action against rape culture.”

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