October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Auburn University's Women's Center is making the national cause relevant within the context of Auburn's campus.
Throughout the year, the Women's Center strives to raise awareness and provides information about gender-based violence and related issues. They have many campaigns and partnerships with other programs to have workshops and film screenings. The center also has a Women's Initiative Conference, which is designed to help women on campus develop leadership skills.
In April, they will organize events that will raise awareness for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. They are currently planning out the events for the month.
The Women's Center also strives to be responsive to current events that could affect people, such as Christine Ford's testimony in the Brett Kavanaugh hearing.
"Being sensitive and aware to how this event could raise emotions while it's going on is important," said Annette Kluck, assistant provost for Women's Initiatives. "So we pretty much created a safe space for those who wanted to watch it and could do so."
Kluck believes that raising awareness about domestic violence is crucial because it's important to remember that it affects people of all backgrounds, not just a particular demographic. She also stresses that it is essential to realize the stages and early signs of domestic violence.
"We're trying to help people understand that it just, out of the blue, a person gets hit," Kluck said. "It starts more insidious; the perpetrator starts to lower their confidence far before the physical violence starts. We want people also to understand why people tend to stay even if they experience domestic violence, why they can't leave. We also want them to be aware of what the early signs are as well."
To show how close to home domestic violence is to Auburn students, the Women's Center has put up posters around campus, and a graphic that is currently in Mell Hall shows incidents of domestic violence by county in Alabama. They specifically highlight Lee County to show that is happening right next to them.
Kluck emphasized that it is vital to continuously spread awareness, even outside of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. She added that Health Promotion and Wellness is doing training on Nov. 4 to ensure that this consciousness is carried past October.
"It is often the case that people believe that domestic violence happens somewhere else, to someone they do not know," Kluck said. "But the truth is, there are probably people in class sitting next to us who are experiencing domestic violence right now or who grew up in a household with domestic violence."
Cassandra Grey, graduate assistant for Women's Initiatives, is responsible for planning events and does a lot of behind-the-scenes work, including the organizing of many of the events this month.
Some of the events intended to raise awareness this month include sharing information on the concourse, passing out candles with information, Green Dot training, a Domestic Violence Does Not Discriminate workshop and the Silent Witness campaign.
The Silent Witness campaign has had eight red silhouettes put up across campus, telling real-life stories of domestic violence. Near the end of the month, all the silhouettes will be brought together in one location. Grey thinks it's already making an impact due to all the questions they have received from students and the discussion around campus.
The Domestic Violence Does Not Discriminate workshop will be held on Oct. 17 and is open to students and faculty.
"Typically, when you think of domestic violence, you normally think of women being victims," Grey said. "You don't think about other identities that experience domestic violence. So the workshop is primarily to look at all the different identities and how domestic violence impacts them in ways we may not think of."
Grey based her planning of events on feedback from faculty and what they believe is an issue that needs to be addressed. Grey revealed that this workshop is primarily because of faculty members stressing the importance of how domestic violence affects people of different backgrounds and identities.
"We have one meeting where we all discussed the needs on campus that we believed haven't been met or need to be met," Grey said. "We fleshed out ideas and continuously strategized in person and email."
Grey believes that this year is different than others based on the fact that the Women's Center did smaller and more numerous things to raise awareness.
"I think it's impactful for the campus because students realize that there are support systems and individuals on campus that care about these issues and that students can go to them if they need help," Grey said.
The Women's Resource Center is located at 311 Mary Martin Hall if students or faculty have any questions.
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