Alcohol & Consent Project

A&C Project Overview

The combination of alcohol and sexual activity is a reality for many college students, and alcohol is implicated in the majority of sexual assaults. For college students in the UT System, 56% of victims and 77% of perpetrators were using alcohol or drugs at the time of victimization. (Source: CLASE Study, 2017)

The Alcohol & Consent Project is a UT system-wide initiative to address the intersection of alcohol and sexual consent. The A&C Project is a response to the call from campuses for effective messages to convey how alcohol use relates to the ability to give and receive consent.

The A&C Project aims to:

• Increase awareness of how alcohol effects our ability to give and get consent
• Increase students’ ability to have conversations about consent when alcohol is involved
• Shift the culture toward normalizing consent conversations, both when alcohol is involved and not

Mixing Alcohol & Sex

Mixing alcohol and sex can make it difficult to know if you can give or get consent. Don’t assume you are on the same level. Consent requires mutual agreement. If someone is incapacitated, they can never consent. The A&C Project uses the word “wasted” to mean incapacitation, or more specifically, the state of being that prevents an individual from having the capacity to give consent.

Resources for Campuses

A communication toolkit will be available to all UT System campuses in fall 2020. Please contact the UT Center for Health Communication for a variety of downloadable and customizable materials.

Campuses outside of the UT System interested in the campaign or using campaign materials are welcomed to contact the UT Center for Health Communication for files and information on attribution.

More about Alcohol and Consent at UT Austin

Consent: UT’s policy on consent outlines what is and is not consent.

SHIFT: engages the community in dialogue that changes the culture of campus substance use from one of misuse to one of well-being.

Voices Against Violence: provides the campus with tools to practice consent, engage in healthy relationships, and interrupt cycles of interpersonal violence. Our work is driven by passionate and committed students.

If you have been impacted by interpersonal violence in any way and need support, please contact:

Healthyhorns Peer Educators
BeVocal
AlcoholEdU and Sexual Assault Prevention for Undergraduates (SAPU)

VAV Student Org
Theatre for Dialogue
Healthyhorns Peer Educators
SHIFTovation - awards for culture-shifting innovation

BASICS
CMHC Crisis Line
Center for Students in Recovery
Student Amnesty Program