Golden Z, a gender advocacy and inclusion club at Colorado State University, held a sexual assault awareness event in the Lory Student Center Theatre Feb. 20.

The event titled, “Golden Z Says No!” was an exposium featuring poetry, a documentary, art and presenters all surrounding the topic of sexual assault and harassment.

Maia Zoller, president of the CSU Golden Z Club, said that this event was the first event hosted by Golden Z. The club was only started last year, and this was their first full-fledged event.

“We wanted it to be an exposium walkthrough,” Zoller said. “And (for students) to take the little morsel of knowledge they received and apply it to their everyday life on campus.”

Golden Z is a collegiate-level section of the Zonta Club of Fort Collins, which is under the Zonta International organization.

We typically say we’re a women’s club, but we don’t like to restrict ourselves to just women because we really love the idea of advocacy for all and equality for all.”– Maia Zoller, president of the CSU Golden Z Club

Zonta International primarily focuses on advocacy of women all across the world. The organization’s work includes granting easier access to education, health care, economic opportunities and safe living conditions for women.

Some of the highlights of the event included a viewing and discussion of the documentary “The Line,” an analysis of the pending updates to the Department of Education’s Sexual Harassment Title IX Rules, a poetry reading and speakers from the Sexual Assault Victim Advocate Center, which is located in Fort Collins.

Zoller said the hope of the event is to continue hosting “Golden Z Says No!” every year to spread the awareness of sexual assault on campus.

A major aspect of “Golden Z Says No!” was the amount of dialogue and discussions present throughout the event. This dialogue gave attendees the opportunity to ask questions about sexual assault and harassment with real advocates and experts on the matter.

Many students said they thought the event was mainly intended for women because Zonta International and its affiliates specifically advocate for women, but a portion of the conversation surrounded the sexual assault of men and those who identify outside of the gender binary.

In addition to the subject of how male sexual assault is seldom talked about, the idea of how to talk about the subject in a way that informs and helps men learn about what they can do to prevent it was raised.

“We’re an equality based club,” Zoller said. “We typically say we’re a women’s club, but we don’t like to restrict ourselves to just women, because we really love the idea of advocacy for all and equality for all.”

Joel Thompson can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @probably_joel.