POUGHKEEPSIE, New York - The Marist Center for Student-Athlete Enhancement, in collaboration with the Marist Title IX office and Cannavino Library, hosted its 14th White Ribbon Campaign on Wednesday afternoon.

The White Ribbon Campaign is the world's largest movement of men and boys working to end violence against women and girls, promote gender equity, healthy relationships, and a new vision of masculinity.

This year;s event started in front of Champagnat Hall and included a speech by football player, Mylo Lee.

"If you take a second to look around, we have a bunch of student-athletes who normally don't get together and right now we are all joining forces to create a safer and more equitable world...All the men here today have women in their lives that you care for and love, whether they are related to you or not. If we were to treat all the women we come into contact with with the same respect that we treat the women we care for and love, then the world will become more on track to becoming a safer place."

Lee went on to say, "If we want to make a change and help to protect the women around us, it starts with us. Being in such large groups on campus, other men and boys look up to us. If they start seeing more of us treating women with the respect they deserve then they will follow and do the same."

The event continued with a walk through Marist's campus.

The White Ribbon Campaign was first brought to Marist's campus in 2008, spearheaded by football student-athletes Dan Smith and Al Ruiz. In 2008, Smith said, " we hope the other athletes and especially the younger football players continue this initiative and make it a tradition for the coming years." the tradition has continued in some form in every non-COVID year since.