Ribbons bring new awareness to Logan
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon and the sorority Alpha Chi Omega teamed up with SAAVI (Sexual Assault Anti-Violence Information) Tuesday to hold the first “Paint the Town Purple” event in Logan.
The groups began by tying purple ribbons into bows and listening to Rachel Hickman, the SAAVI coordinator, speak about domestic violence and how awareness can be promoted.
“Hanging a bunch of ribbons around town is not going to stop domestic violence,” Hickman said, “but it will make people aware.”
Domestic violence is not exclusive to romantic relationships, Hickman said, but can also occur between roommates.
Hickman said the purple ribbon campaing began when a domestic violence abuse victim was murdered by her husband after he while he was on parole from jail. The victim’s favortie color was purple, Hickman said, so her home town wore purple in her remeberance. This has become a nationwide event, she said.
Hickman said the idea behind the ribbons was to make people aware of domestic violence. If people are more aware, she said, then domestic violence will become less socially acceptable. By becoming less socially acceptable, she said, people will be more likely to turn those who are guilty of domestic violence into the police.
After Hickman spoke, the members of the sorority and fraternity gathered at the Logan Tabernacle to tie ribbons around the trees. The group wanted to spread their message to the community as well as the campus.
“Our goal is to make people more aware,” said Adriane Sample, a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.
She said students can help “by donating their time to organizations like SAAVI, CAPSA (Community Abuse Prevention Service Agency) and the USU Women’s Center.”
Also, she said participating in individual activities, such as “Paint the Town Purple,” can help the fight against domestic violence.
Hickman said students can help with the domestic violence prevention effort by starting with themselves. She said students can make a personal pledge, “never to commit, condone nor remain silent about violence.”
“There is no excuse for intimate partner violence,” she said.
Unfortunately, she said, intimate partner violence is occurring at an incredible rate. A woman is battered every 15 seconds, Hickman said.
As the SAAVI coordinator, Hickman says SAAVI is ready to serve the USU community: female and male students, faculty and staff, primary survivors (those who experience violence) and secondary survivors (family, friends and loved ones of those who experience violence).
According to the American Institute on Domestic Violence’s Web site, between three and four million women are battered each year. Eighty-five to 95 percent of all domestic violence victims are female.
Women ages 20 to 34 endure the highest rates of domestic violence. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, and women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger.
Sample said, “Although we are not preventing domestic violence altogether, we are making people more aware of the fact that it does happen and is taking place all around us.”
While this is the first year that the “Paint the Town Purple” event has been held, Hickman wants to make this a yearly event. “Domestic violence has an impact on all of us – it not only hurts individuals, it hurts us as a community,” she said. “As a community, we must take collective ownership of the tragedy [of] domestic violence by creating an environment intolerant of brutality, and that offers safe harbor to those who survive violence.”
-kevmour@cc.usu.edu