Despite the rain, more than 30 demonstrators gathered near the Fabiano Botanical Gardens to hold signs, chant and protest for stricter punishment for sexual assaults.

“Survivors are at CMU, their rapists shouldn’t be here too! Rapists pay for what you’ve done, we won’t go until we’ve won!” were just two of many chants that filled the air Tuesday as Students Advocating Gender Equality took to campus for their protest to expel perpetrators of sexual assault.

“Right now the discipline for sexual assault is suspension. We would like to see the administration change that to expulsion,” said Hanna Mollett, president of SAGE. “It is an obvious move for the well-being of survivors and the safety of all students.”

On Monday, the group had planned to deliver an open letter to President George Ross detailing the group’s demands, but Ross was unavailable. SAGE now has a meeting with him scheduled for Thursday.

SAGE members took turns leading chants through a megaphone in a call and response manner. Saginaw senior Marie Reimers said she bought the megaphone to aid in the protest, but imagines it will get plenty of use in the future.

Mollett, an Ortonville senior, organized the demonstration. She describes her organization as a feminist group that focuses on projects advocating gender equality.

Through the protest, the group aims to persuade the administration to change the Student Code of Conduct to make expulsion the minimum punishment for individuals convicted of sexual assault.

According to Mollett, the protest was organized as a response to a resolution with similar goals being tabled by the Student Government Association.

In addition to the protest, the group has also started a petition on Change.org that has collected over 6,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

Some passing students took fliers from the group and stopped to have conversations with the protesters, while other students went out of their way to avoid the protest.

One of the students watching from afar was Port Huron sophomore Daniel Jennings.

“I hadn’t heard of the protest before today, but I agree that if you rape someone you shouldn’t be allowed on campus,” Jennings said. “But only if you’ve been convicted, not just accused. Everyone deserves due process.”

Freshman Jaqui Jarboe is not a member of SAGE, but decided to join the protest anyway.

“I heard about the protest from a friend, and as a survivor this is an issue that is really important to me,” Jarboe said. “We’ve had a lot of people walk up and join, so I think it’s been a success.”

Almost all of the protesters in attendance were holding signs and each had a unique message. One sign read “We don’t need their faces as a reminder.” Another sign said “Don’t let them silence you.”

There were some students passing by that seemed to disagree with SAGE’s message. Some students walking by visibly shook their heads and others who did not wish to be identified questioned the policy because they were skeptical of punishing falsely accused students.

At times, members of the media seemed to outnumber the people protesting. Camera crews from all the local TV stations including NBC 25 and ABC 12 were in attendance swarming SAGE members for interviews. Mollett, who spent more time than anyone in front of the news cameras, did not expect that kind of response from the media.

“We sent out a press release, but we didn’t expect all the news outlets to show up” Mollett said.

After protesting near the library for over three hours, at 1 p.m. the group marched across campus to Warriner Hall. During the march, the group continued to chant “Expel All Rapists” while carrying a banner that said the same.

As President of SAGE, Mollett then spoke on behalf of the group and read to the group the open letter SAGE had prepared for President Ross. The letter urged President Ross and the Board of Trustees to take action and take a stance against sexual assault on campus.

After reading the open letter to President Ross, group members gathered in a circle to share their personal stories of how they have been affected by sexual assault on campus and why they attended the protest. Each story was met with an overwhelming round of applause.

“I’m really happy with the turnout,” Mollett said. “We had a really vocal group.”