Counseling Center to sponsor Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Week, Sept. 10-14
August 28, 2012
JONESBORO — Arkansas State University’s Counseling Center is sponsoring a special
“Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention” week, Monday through
Friday, Sept. 10-14, in preparation for Domestic Violence Awareness month in October.
The week is an effort to draw attention to problems related to sexual assault and
domestic violence and is an annual event held by the Counseling Center to encourage
the community to take steps to prevent domestic violence in families and society.
Domestic violence is a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors including physical,
sexual, and psychological attacks as well as economic coercion that adults or adolescents
use against their intimate partner or other family member.
Interactive educational activities will be held each weekday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in
the Natural State Lounge of the Carl R. Reng Student Union. Victims and survivors
of domestic violence will be honored with a candlelight vigil in the Student Union
Heritage Plaza courtyard in the grass on the front lawn, Thursday, Sept. 13, at 7
p.m. Special guest speakers will be at the vigil to talk about their personal stories
and to share safety tips for getting out of an abusive relationship.
Last year 14 Arkansas women were murdered during an act of domestic violence. Each
victim will be personally memorialized during the vigil. The public is encouraged
to join the ASU campus community and participate in this educational awareness program.
Created by Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 1995, the “Silent Witness
Project” consists of life-sized plywood cutouts painted red and black. Each cutout
represents a female victim murdered by an intimate partner from the most recent year
and tells the victim's story on a shield attached to the cutout. Last year 21 Arkansas
women were murdered during an act of domestic violence. “The Silent Witness” will
be on display from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. all week in the Natural State Lounge.
A video version of the “Clothesline Project” will also be displayed. Also created
by Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 1994, the project is a collection
of approximately 300 hand-decorated T-shirts displayed on a clothesline, with each
T-shirt representing a woman killed in Arkansas by an intimate partner from 1989 to
2009.
For more information, contact. Dr. Philip Hestand, Counseling Center director, at
phestand@astate.edu or (870) 972-2318.
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