University of Maryland Wins the Characters Unite College Tour Competition,
Securing a Special Visit from a USA Network Star
NEW YORK, NY – October 16, 2014 – Verizon and USA Network today announced the seven stops on the Characters Unite College Tour. Beginning on Monday, October 20, the Tour will head across the country to encourage students to use technology and their voices to help solve some of the country’s biggest social issues, such hate and discrimination as well as dating abuse.
The University of Maryland was named the winner of the Characters Unite College Tour Competition. Launched in early September, the contest asked students to submit their college or university at charactersunitecollegetour.com for a chance to be part of the Tour. In addition to securing a spot on the Tour, the College Park, MD campus will get a special visit from a USA Network star.
The Characters Unite College Tour will make the following stops:
- Columbus State Community College, Columbus, OH – Monday, October 20th
- Howard University, Washington, DC – Wednesday, October 22nd
- University of Maryland, College Park, MD – Thursday, October 23rd
- Midlands Technical College, Columbia, SC – Tuesday, October 28th
- Georgia Perimeter College, Clarkston, GA – Thursday, October 30th
- University of Texas, Austin, TX – Thursday, November 6th
- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM – Wednesday, November 12th
At each stop of the Characters Unite College Tour, students will be invited to create a free “I Won’t Stand For…” t-shirt, personalizing it by stamping a word to fill in the blank, such as bullying, dating violence, racism, religious intolerance, sexism, homophobia, ableism and more. In addition, they can take a photo to be a part of the Characters Unite online gallery and immediately share the image with their friends and family via social media, joining millions of people – including top musicians, movie and television stars, athletes and political leaders – in the Characters Unite campaign to combat all forms of hate and discrimination.
In addition, students will have the opportunity to learn more about loveisrespect, a project of the National Domestic Violence hotline and Break the Cycle, a program, dedicated to empowering young adults to prevent and end abusive relationships, and join Verizon in speaking out against domestic violence through the company’s Hopeline® from Verizon program. Verizon is providing HopeLine collection bins on site for participants to donate no-longer-used wireless phones and accessories that will be used to support domestic violence organizations nationwide. Wireless phones donated to HopeLine are refurbished and provided to local domestic violence agencies to distribute to the victims of domestic violence they’re serving. Students will also be invited to share messages of hope to domestic violence survivors through HopeLine’s Because Voices Have Power initiative using #VoicesHavePower.
To learn more about the Characters Unite College Tour, please visit charactersunitecollegetour.com. To learn more about HopeLine from Verizon, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline or www.voiceshavepower.com.
About Characters Unite
Characters Unite, USA Network’s award-winning public service program, was created to address the social injustices and cultural divides still prevalent in our society. Inspired by USA Network’s iconic “Characters Welcome” brand and with the support of leading national nonprofit organizations, the ongoing campaign is dedicated to supporting activities and messaging that combat prejudice and intolerance while promoting understanding and acceptance — on-air, online, and in communities across the country. www.charactersunite.com
About USA Network
The #1 network in all of basic cable for an unprecedented seven straight years, USA Network is seen in over 102 million U.S. homes. USA is a leader in scripted programming with a powerful stable of originals, spectacular live television and is home to the best in blockbuster theatrical films, a broad portfolio of acquired series and entertainment events. A trailblazer in digital innovation and storytelling, USA is defining, driving and setting the industry standard for Social TV. USA is a program service of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal. The award-winning website is located at http://www.usanetwork.com. Characters Welcome.
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USA Contact:
Melissa Cusack
212.664.8993
melissa.cusack@nbcuni.com
Verizon Contact:
Ray McConville
908.559.3504
raymond.mcconville@verizon.com
Jessica Thorpe
908.559.6734
jessica.thorpe@verizonwireless.com