#SetTheExpectation: A Call to Action
This Saturday's game between N.C. State and Ball State will be contested on the gridiron, but the real story transcends what will transpire from end zone to end zone.
The Wolfpack football team has teamed up with Brenda Tracy and the #SetTheExpectation movement to raise awareness against sexual and interpersonal violence. With the ACC’s first #SetTheExpectation game set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium, Stacy and several State athletes promoted the cause at Talley Student Center, handing out bracelets and directing students to pledge to the efforts to combat sexual and physical violence.
“N.C. State stood out as one of the programs that was the most enthusiastic and the most excited to get started,” Tracy said. “It’s been pretty amazing to see the activism.”
Tracy spreads her story to different campuses across the country, and the movement has been targeted to coaches and athletes at the high school, college, and professional levels. She discusses her experiences despite the emotional toll on herself, but she also uses her perspective to help provide steps for her listeners to take to further the cause and continue the efforts.
“It’s hard for me to share my story, and it’s hard for me to relive my trauma,” Tracy said. “I do that, but I also give them action items for them to go out and do, because I feel like if I just share my story, and then I leave, and you do nothing, then why did I go through that? This just makes it worth it for me to revisit my trauma over and over.
“I thought when I first started sharing my story, it would get easier,” Tracy continued, “but trauma doesn’t work like that. It just kind of lives right here. Every time I share my story, it’s the same hard. It just hasn’t changed, and I’ve shared my story almost 100 times.”
Graduate student defensive end James Smith-Williams was among the players who heard Tracy’s story when she spoke to the Pack’s male student-athletes back in April. Touched by her courage to speak out, Smith-Williams and redshirt senior goalkeeper Vincent Durand on the men’s soccer team partnered together to organize a donation drive at a State baseball game the following month.
“It’s been awesome being able to help Brenda out,” Smith-Williams said. “The biggest thing is that it’s all about her movement and what she’s doing. I’m glad I could help drive the vehicle a little bit, but I’m really just excited for her and the opportunity she has to come to an ACC school and one of the best on the east coast. I think everyone knows at least one victim of sexual assault, and I think helping Brenda out is helping everyone out.”
Tracy opened up about her story in 2014 and began traveling to spread her message in 2016 before Stanford hosted the first #SetTheExpectation game in 2017. With the momentum of this campaign growing, more and more people are pledging and donating toward this cause.
“She came and spoke to us, and I was really moved,” senior cornerback Nick McCloud said. “I’m really close to my sister and my mom, so for me to hear that, I would feel ashamed if I didn’t contribute to the movement.”
Commitment, raising awareness, and education are the pillars of the movement. This is something that needs continuous support. N.C. State and the #SetTheExpectation partnership for this game will get more eyes on the cause, and that should prove to be an absolute good. The issue is not something that should be sugarcoated. Sexual assault is a problem that needs to be solved and prevented from happening, and changing the culture is the best means of accomplishing that goal.
The Wolfpack and the Cardinals will kick off their game Saturday at 7 p.m., but hopefully, this game will kick off the start of a new paradigm shift aimed toward the eradication of sexual assault.