LOS ANGELES — As a community college transfer student, Miranda Koffard found a fresh start on USC’s campus. Hoping to make new friends, she joined a sorority. But she soon changed her mind after allegations of drink spiking and sexual assault were made against a USC fraternity last year.

“I didn’t go to any of the events and after that happened,” Koffard said. “I just dropped Greek life altogether.”

Learning about the allegations hit too close to home for Koffard because of her own experience with sexual violence. Koffard said she had been sexually abused by a family member when she was younger.

“It has impacted every single area of my life. From how I think about myself, to my academics, to my social life,” she said. “For a really long time, I was a really closed off, isolated person and I thought that there was something wrong with me.”

She said it wasn’t until college that she began to share her experiences. One person she confided in was Sophie Pollack, who is also a sexual assault survivor, USC student and the founder of the grassroots organization A Path 2 Courage.

Pollack worked with USC Hillel and Breaking Silence, a nonprofit project, to bring Through It Together, a 30-minute in-person immersive exhibit featuring sexual assault offenders’ and survivors’ stories, to campus. Pollack hopes the exhibit provides support and more understanding.

“They are not alone and that they are heard,” she said. “And for people who haven’t gone through sexual assault, bringing the exhibit to them means like learning what I’ve been through or other survivors themselves have been through. How it’s like an internal battle of guilt, shame and perseverance.”

A National Institute of Justice study found more than 50% of college sexual assaults happen in either August, September, October or November. Another study found students to be at an increased risk during the first few months of their first and second semesters in college. Koffard hopes the exhibit will bring more awareness on campus.

“We’re all just people who have been who have been messed up in some way or another, and if we’re not here to help each other get through that, then we are only here to harm each other.”

The free exhibit is available for those 18 and older. The exhibit can be found at the USC Ronald Tutor Campus Center, Room 350 through Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Oct. 31 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

CORRECTION: The video that accompanies this story has been updated to reflect that the allegations were against an active USC fraternity. (Oct. 27, 2022)