Walking into the Union’s Redwood room, guests were greeted by the ladies of Kappa Psi Epsilon.

The sorority’s annual event, Pinay Symposium, had a theme of spreading sexual harassment awareness through keynote speakers, self defense tutorials, spoken word and performances.

“Ever since Kappa Psi Epsilon first started at Sac State, we’ve been hosting the Pinay Symposium event yearly to raise awareness about a certain topic,” said junior family and consumer sciences major Madelene Calara. “It usually focuses around Pacific Islander and Asian women. Last year’s event was about women’s health, and the year before that was about prominent Pinays.”

On the night of Feb. 16, the event commenced with the entire room singing the Filipino national anthem.

The host, Kappa Psi Epsilon’s cultural chair, senior psychology major Andrea Guianan, continued the night by having audience members pop teal colored balloons filled with messages. These messages had different terms and definitions of sexual harassment.

Guianan facilitated an interactive skit with six pairs of male and female audience members acting out examples of the various types of sexual harassment such as verbal, non-verbal and physical abuse between a victim and an attacker.

“We want to raise awareness about sexual harassment because it happens all the time and no one says anything about it,” said Guianan.

After having a small discussion about how each of the victims felt during the demonstration, junior biology major, Jade Tamondong taught the audience about the psychological, physiological and career related effects for victims.

Chemistry professor and Kappa Psi Epsilon’s faculty advisor Dr. James Miranda demonstrated a few self defense techniques with “Escrima,” the martial art of the Philippines.

“Be aware with your surroundings especially during early mornings and nights. Have Sacramento State’s Police Department’s phone number (916) 278–6851 and the night shuttle’s phone number (916) 278–7260 programmed into your phone,” advised Miranda. “Have a flashlight with you so that you can use it to blind your attacker’s eyes. Have pepper spray.”

The Pinay Symposium concluded with remarks from Sac State PD Detective Greg Thompson answering questions from the audience members.

“I didn’t even know there was a night shuttle service provided by Sac State who could drive me to my car at night,” said sophomore journalism major Valerie Vishion.

Kappa Psi Epsilon’s next event, the Annual Priceless Benefit Concert, will take place on April 7 where they will raise funds for victims of human trafficking.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual harassment, please contact the Sacramento State victim advocate, Jessica Heskin at (916) 278-3799.