Stand Up Carolina, Alpha Chi Omega co-host domestic violence awareness event
The Williams-Brice Building Auditorium was overwhelmed by a sea of purple Wednesday night as hundreds of women in brightly-colored Domestic Violence Awareness Month T-shirts filled the seats for a presentation about prevention. The event, a joint effort from Stand Up Carolina, a campus wide campaign focused on preventing domestic violence, and Alpha Chi Omega, stressed the importance of being responsible for your peers and friends in situations where domestic violence could occur.
“What we want you to do is be accountable bystanders,” said presenter C.D. Ingram. “By strengthening the community we can reduce the misconceptions that people have, and thereby reduce the amount of interpersonal violence that takes place on this campus.”
The presentation, entitled “Stand Up, Carolina! Your Role in Interpersonal Violence Prevention,” started with Ingram, program coordinator for True Strength, the male-oriented counterpart to Stand Up Carolina.
Ingram’s presentation was humorous and relaxed in nature, delighting the crowd with frequent opportunities for participation.
“If I slip and fall here on the stage, how many people out there would come up and see if I needed first aid?” asked Ingram of the crowd. Few people raised their hands. “See? That’s less than half. We want you to step up, and stand up. That’s the whole point of Stand Up Carolina.”
Ingram invited attendees to spread the word that the SAVIP office, or Sexual Assault Violence Intervention and Prevention, offers the opportunity to anonymously report sexual assault to the appropriate authorities.
“We do not want you to not report because you are afraid that your information or the perpetrator’s will get out there,” Ingram said. “One in six women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. This is important.”
The SAVIP office is on the first floor of Thomson Student Health Center and offers a variety of services for those that suspect that sexual assault may have occurred to them or someone they know. They even offer assistance taking suspected victims to a hospital to be examined.
Pamela Jacobs, the executive director for the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, spoke of her personal experience with domestic violence.
“I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse myself,” Jacobs said. “By intervening and standing up for each other, we can stop this. That’s my dream, and I know we can get there.”
Jacobs revealed that South Carolina is now second in the nation for the number of women murdered by men. Jacobs stressed that most of these murders are domestic-violence related.
“Any time someone forces you or coerces you into doing something (sexually) that you don’t want to, that’s rape,” Jacobs said. “Any time is the right time to reach out to somebody for help.”