T-Shirt Activism Stirs Controversy At DePaul
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A group of DePaul students have been selling T-shirts to raise awareness of sexual assault, but the message on those shirts isn't sitting well with some women.
WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller reports the inspiration for the T-shirts came from another shirt meant for fans of the DePaul Blue Demons. That shirt said, "Fear the D."
This shirt says "Consent the D." It capitalizes on the double-entendre, and the T-shirt's mastermind, DePaul senior Randy Vollrath, said it's aimed at stopping sexual violence.
"This is a student-led initiative. We're doing something about it, and this is a way that empowers everybody at the university, everybody in the city who believes in the cause, to participate," he said.
Recent DePaul graduate Alissa Sherwood said the shirt seems counterproductive.
"I don't think they thought what it really, literally is saying," she said. "It just sounds aggressive to me. I just didn't appreciate that, but I do appreciate the sentiment behind it."
Vollrath acknowledged there has been some blowback, but he said "Consent the D" is an "empowering alternative to a culture of lack of consent."
"We wanted to create a culture of consent where consent is put as an absolute requirement for all interactions," he said.