More Than Jeans: NETC Stands Together on Denim Day

Employees wearing jeans

A college is more than a place where skills are taught. It is a community, and communities are tested by whether they show up for each other when it matters most.

On Wednesday, April 29, Northeastern Technical College's staff, administrators, and faculty did exactly that. Across the campus, NETC team members pulled on their denim in participation in Denim Day 2026, the internationally recognized day of awareness and solidarity in the fight against sexual violence and the harmful myths that too often surround it.

What Denim Day means.

Denim Day is observed annually on the last Wednesday of April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It began with an act of outrage and solidarity. In the 1990s, the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction, reasoning that because the victim wore tight jeans, she must have assisted in removing them, implying consent. The women of the Italian Parliament responded by wearing jeans to work in protest. That image traveled across the world.

In 1999, Peace Over Violence Executive Director Patti Giggans brought that same energy to Los Angeles and launched Denim Day as a campaign to challenge victim-blaming and the destructive myths that still surround sexual violence. Now in its 27th year, it has become the longest-running sexual violence prevention and education campaign in history, and yesterday, NETC was part of it.

A statement made in denim. What may look like a simple wardrobe choice carries real weight. When administrators, faculty, and staff participate together, visibly and collectively, they send a message to every student on campus: you are seen, you are supported, and you do not have to carry this alone.

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