Megann Horstead
Social media editor
This week, North Central College welcomes the “Girls Fight Back” tour and the Clothesline Project in an effort to boost education and awareness about sexual violence.
Both of these initiatives come into play as a result of the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act of 2013.
The act imposes that higher level education be responsible for addressing students, faculty and staff about the prevention of rape, acquaintance rape, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. These institutional-wide initiatives are hoped to lessen underreporting and the commonly perceived fear that keeps victims of sexual violence from speaking out.
College’s Green Dot Initiative and last term’s Central Campus Self Defense event are two ways the College has worked to integrate the campus into the discussion of interpersonal violence.
In referencing the College’s Green Dot Initiative, Assistant Director of Student Involvement, Hannah Ricketson said, “I think ‘Girls Fight Back’ fits on our campus given that we have the Green Dot Initiative occurring. We want to be a campus where people feel empowered to make good decisions for themselves, for their friends, and for other people that they just happen to be around.”
Sponsored by CUAB and the Dyson Wellness Center, North Central is teaming up with the “Girls Fight Back tour,” an organization focused on the injustices of interpersonal violence, to offer self-defense programing for women. The workshop is slated to take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday in upper WAC.
The day’s programming is set up to specifically include tutorials on how women can use intuition to eliminate themselves from the threat of potentially dangerous situations, how to be a bad victim, basic self-defense moves, ground fighting and improvised weapons.
Apart from the “Girls Fight Back” tour, the “Clothesline Project” offers more of a visual display that bears witness to violence against women. The Clothesline Project will be running alongside the “Girls Fight Back” tour on Saturday.
The organization started in 1990 with thirty-one shirts hung in Hyannis Massachusetts. Each shirt is decorated to represent a particular woman’s experience faced by the survivor, herself, or someone who cares about her. Since then, the project has seen life across the country and in other countries too.
Cynthia Washburn, NCC’s Violence Education & Prevention Coordinator, spoke about the systematic problem of interpersonal violence against women. She said that much of the time women are attuned to hearing the message “’don’t get raped,’ ‘don’t’ be a victim.’” Conveying these messages with increased backing that discourages unacceptable forms of behavior, all the while exhibiting more of a statement on the behalf of women and men affected, is essential.
For her, this is about building the awareness and honing in on the sense that comes with being attuned to the problem. She added, “…We’re not just going to silently let this continue to occur. We’re going to proactively address this and do whatever we can to empower victims or survivors, but also help our community see alternatives to that.”
Some times people forget that violence takes place everywhere, including Naperville. Interpersonal violence should not be as foreign of a topic to North Central students. Although cases of interpersonal violence are fewer in number in Naperville compared to institutions elsewhere, the problem is reaching wide enough that it must be addressed. With that said, the College is taking steps to increase their involvement in the narrative against interpersonal violence.
As far as extending programming about interpersonal violence in ways that can reach students, “I think that’s always a challenge. I think particularly that’s something where having increased student involvement and student input is going to be key in keeping that (innovation) at the forefront.”
To this concern, she added that openness and willingness are key when there is a need to address something head on. “I think sometimes there’s a lot of shame and a lot of concern about the public perception if we talk about it.”
Part of North Central’s grant, which is aimed at preventing interpersonal violence, requires ongoing, comprehensive programming and education. Though still early in the development stages, Washburn said that they’re looking at different ways of doing that.
If students would like to get more involved in the fight against interpersonal violence, contact North Central’s Violence Education & Prevention Coordinator, Cynthia Washburn. She can be reached via email at clwashburn@noctrl.edu.
