In the fall of 1990, the Syracuse University Rape: Advocacy, Prevention and Education Center was founded in response to the courageous activism of a group of Syracuse University students. Students Concerned About Rape Education (S.C.A.R.Ed) was formed and supported by students who had become alarmed at the seeming increase in incidents of rape and sexual assault on campus during one academic year. It is difficult to know with any certainty whether there was in fact an increase or whether local news journalists had become more conscious of the problem and thus were more willing to publicize it.

S.C.A.R.Ed approached the Chancellor who appointed a task force to investigate the situation. High on the list of recommendations presented to the Chancellor was the formation of a campus rape center that would provide preventive education, counseling and advocacy services. The Chancellor established the University R.A.P.E. Center with its first director appointed in the fall of 1991. An education coordinator/graduate assistant was also selected.

Initially, the R.A.P.E. Center’s educational programming consisted of lectures, informational workshops and video discussions designed to share campus rape statistics, facts, definitions and policies. Discussions focused on exploring interpersonal behaviors and gender stereotypes that perpetuated or condoned nonconsensual sexual activity as well as raising awareness of the counseling, advocacy and educational services offered by the R.A.P.E. Center.

In the spring of 1991, having been inspired by the work of Cornell University’s interactive theater program, “Sex at Seven,” the graduate assistant (G.A.) in the R.A.P.E. Center had a vision for developing a similar educational program at Syracuse University. The G.A. believed that the standard programming available to the university community, lacked something. That something was a program that would capture the attention of the audience while simultaneously challenging them to think about their individual roles and behaviors in terms of campus rape and sexual assault issues. What was desired, therefore, was a program that would help students discover their own solutions to the problem.

The idea was to organize a troupe of actors who would write and perform scenarios that were close to home and depicted some aspect of sexual violence. After watching the actors perform a scene, audience members would be invited to question the characters about the choices they made or failed to make. Having discovered a dynamic way of educating the university community but at the same time having no theatrical training, the graduate assistant put out a call for graduate directing students to assist in the development of the group and the development of believable and yet educational scenes.

During the fall of 1991, the first organizational meeting was held. Through a campaign of flyers, phone calls and word-of-mouth, performers with diverse backgrounds were recruited. Simple requirements were that potential members had enough ease with performance so that the work would not be overly focused on actor training and that potential members had a strong commitment to the eradication of sexual violence on campus.

In the spring of 1992, an interactive theater group was formed. “Every Five Minutes,” better known as “e5m,” informed students about rape and sexual assault through educational theater that featured interactive dialogue between the actors and audience. The group chose its name from a poem entitled, “with no immediate cause” written by Ntozake Shange, which highlighted the then current statistic that every five minutes a woman was raped.

E5m held a prominent place in preventive education at Syracuse University during the 1990’s. The troupe averaged about 50 presentations per academic year, reaching about 5,000 students annually. In addition, e5m presented workshops at area high schools, meeting with about 2,000 students per year.

From spring of 2000 until fall of 2002, the Division of Student Affairs and the University R.A.P.E. Center went through organizational change. During this period of time, e5m was put on hold.

In the spring of 2003, a recruitment campaign was developed and the interview process began. Nine students formed the first “new” troupe of e5m members during the fall, 2003 semester.

“E5m” began making presentations to the campus community during the fall, 2004 semester.