The Rochester Institute of Technology recently encouraged students to masturbate as an alternative to sexual assault during one of its freshman orientation programs.

As part of an “Alcohol and Chill” session during orientation, students discussed “awareness, prevention, bystander education, and risk reduction,” according to a statement from the school’s senior vice president for student affairs.

"Self-gratification can prevent sexual assault."

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An image obtained by Campus Reform shows that during said session, participants were told to “Rub One Out,” with a notation at the bottom of the slide explaining that “self-gratification can prevent sexual assault.”

“Think of Roo!” the slide adds, offering students an acronym for “Rub One Out” and a picture of the Winnie the Pooh character of the same name to help them remember the lesson.

The slide later sparked backlash on social media, and the school has subsequently apologized in a statement released by the university’s senior vice president for student affairs, who insisted that the slide was “taken out of context.”

“Unfortunately, one slide, out of 77, taken out of context, has sparked controversy, mainly on social media surrounding the entire program,” wrote Sandra Johnson. “In my opinion, this serves to underscore the complexity involved in addressing this issue.”

Johnson went on to explain that while “some may think the program on Wednesday evening missed the mark,” the university has apparently received “positive feedback from many of the students, both new and returning, in attendance.”

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“These are difficult conversations that can be awkward and uncomfortable, and we apologize if we unintentionally offended anyone,” she concluded.

Similarly, Chief Communications Officer Bob Finnerty apologized for the content of the slide in a statement to Campus Reform, and while he also insisted that the slide was “taken out of context,” he did not elaborate on how.

“The content of the one slide is unfortunate,” Finnerty remarked. “We apologize.This was part of a much larger discussion and is taken out of context.”

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