Tulane University students table for Campus Health’s “Shatter the Red Zone” initiative on McAlister Drive every Friday, educating students about sexual health and violence.
The program seeks to bring awareness to the time period between move-in and Thanksgiving break when over half of college sexual assaults occur. This period is known as the red zone, a term coined by psychologist and sexual assault researcher David Lisak.
Wave of Support and student members of Sexual Aggression Peer Hotline and Education table on Friday afternoons before students go out during the weekend. Volunteers hand out supplies, resources and information to reduce risks and create a safer, more aware campus for everyone.
Baileigh Evans, assistant director of health promotion for The Well for Health Promotion, developed the Shatter the Red Zone program over the summer and is dedicated to its success.
“There’s a lot of energy on campus. People are … planning out what they’re going to do for the weekend,” Evans said. “So we wanted to have materials that would align with what people were typically doing on a weekend.”
Evans said the table receives a lot of attention from students, standing out with its bright red color, free drink covers and information about Title IX.
Adding to the program’s success is its inherent accessibility. Hundreds of Tulane students pass through McAlister between 3:00 and 4:30 on Friday afternoons.
“It has been the most successful tabling event that we’ve had to date,” Evans said. “As far as sexual violence prevention and sexual literacy, we engage every Friday with over 100 students.”
“I think it’s just cool to see people from so many different backgrounds come and engage in our tabling,” said SAPHE Membership Coordinator Dahlia Weinstein.
The casual setting is intended to reduce the stigma regarding discussions about sex that would prevent some students from attending related events.
“Students come to Tulane with all varying degrees of sexual literacy and sexual respect education,” Evans said.
Shatter the Red Zone is doing more than giving out supplies.
“It’s not just responding with drink covers and straw covers,” Evans said. “It’s also providing the education and resources to everyone about how to have conversations around consent and how to have healthy conversations around sex.”
As a university with a long-standing party school reputation, this initiative tackles the associated risks in a way that caters to students in an effective and realistic way.
“We’re not telling students, ‘Hey, don’t drink,” Weinstein said. “We’re saying, ‘hey, let’s do this in the safest way possible.’”
Rachel • Oct 22, 2025 at 5:06 pm
FYI, this program was entirely created by the Well for Health Promotion! Wave of Support is just a collaborator – all of the credit should go to the Well for Health Promotion.