Gracie Breitenfeld, founder and president of Standing Together Against Rape and Sexual Assault, or Stars, decided to start Stars after a first hand experience with sexual assault.
Breitenfeld said it was hard coming back to Auburn feeling alone. Having gone through such a hard experience during the summer between her freshman and sophomore year she felt isolated.
“I was sexually assaulted in June and it was really hard coming back to Auburn,” Breitenfeld said.
She said she made it her goal to take back the power and control to get a small piece of justice for herself. She wanted to find every other person on Auburn’s campus feeling the way she did.
Breitenfeld said one night as she sat in her dorm room she made a snap decision to start the organization. She immediately called friends, including the current vice president of Stars, Chandler Donegan.
Within five days of making the decision, Stars had 10 members, the minimum number of students to start a university-approved organization. Breitenfeld asked Holly Dunlap, professor in the department of creative writing, to be the faculty advisor.
After these requirements were met, Stars sought approval from the organization council. The Stars executive board told the organization council their vision for Stars and got approved to be an organization that night.
“Our exec team is so great, and I couldn’t have done anything without them,” Breitenfeld said.
Within three months Stars had over a hundred applicants to join the organization on AU Involve. Breitenfeld said it’s all been a 'crazy fast process' and they get applications every single day.
Since the organization’s approval, Stars has had concourse hours promoting their club and spreading the word. They’ve also held multiple meetings featuring various speakers ranging from rape and sexual assault victims to Auburn University’s rape counselor. They hope to have speakers at all of their meetings to offer insight and comfort to attendees.
Stars has had one benefit night at Moe’s Southwest Grill so far and hopes to have another either after Thanksgiving break or during the Spring semester.
Recently Stars participated in the Take Back the Night walk, an event that honors sexual assault victims and survivors of relationship violence.
The organization has big plans for the future. They plan to begin chapter and organization visits in the spring of 2017. They also want to have some awareness events around campus. Over winter break they are registering for non-profit status.
“We want to get registered as a 501c3, so that we can reach out to other campuses,” Breitenfeld said.
The organization hopes to be able to spread beyond just Auburn’s campus in order to help as many victims of sexual assault and rape as they can.
Stars is currently collaborating with Rape Counselors of East Alabama.
“They do a great job of connecting people with both medical and legal services," Donegan said. "That’s the part of all the stories that is most surprising to me; the legal and medical side of things usually don’t get handled the way they should from anybody’s stance. Either people don’t know what to do when it happens to them or the legal system just fails them.”
Stars meetings are every other Monday at 9 p.m. in the student center. Students can apply to become a member of Stars in AU Involve under the forms tab.
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