NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt football team’s season-opening tilt with Georgia on Aug. 31 has been designated as the program’s “Set The Expectation” game. Vanderbilt will be the first SEC program to host a “Set The Expectation” game.
The event started in June, when Brenda Tracy, a registered nurse from Portland, Oregon, shared with the football team her devastating personal story and vital message of preventing sexual violence.
Tracy has addressed dozens of college teams and many more on the high school level in the past year. Tracy also serves on the NCAA’s Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence.
Tracy, who calls her campaign “Set The Expectation,” will be in attendance and introduced to the crowd during an on-field recognition.
During the home opener, student-athletes and athletics staff will be doing a number of things to raise awareness about sexual and relationship violence.
Patches will be worn on the shirts of all Vanderbilt and Georgia football staff members, and teal and purple stickers — teal represents sexual violence awareness and purple represents relationship violence awareness — will be worn on all of the student-athletes’ helmets.
“Set The Expectation” t-shirts will be distributed to the first 10,000 fans in attendance, and student-athletes from both teams will wear the shirts during pregame warmups. A teal and purple ribbon will be painted on the Vanderbilt Stadium field, and Vanderbilt Athletics will host a donation drive in association with the Tennessee Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence to collect items for victims of domestic and sexual violence. Vanderbilt’s Project Safe will be on site (Gate 2) to provide awareness of on-campus resources and community organizations.
Pledges will also be available on the concourse throughout the game for fans to sign, affirming their commitment to combat sexual and relationship violence.
