Women’s Center raises awareness

This month, the Women’s Center held several events to spread awareness of violence, sexual abuse and harassment.

Last week, the Women’s Center put on the 19th Annual Clothesline Project. The Clothesline Project was created to increase awareness of violence against women and children in North Dakota. The project displays t-shirts and shawls that have been decorated by victims of abuse and their families to depict their stories.

The Women’s Center also put on the Take Back the Night Rally this past week. The event took place in the Memorial Ballroom and featured Karyn Gall Hippen as the keynote speaker. Hippen is the mayor of Thompson, N.D and a survivor of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Hippen shared her life story, and the effect that violence had on her life. The event ended with

a march that took place on University Avenue. UND students and members of the community got together to take a unified stance against violence. The march served to bring the community together to speak out against and work towards ending violence.

The University of North Dakota and the Grand Forks Community Violence Intervention Center (CVIC) have agreed to partner in order to place a CVIC employee on campus. The employee would act as a confidential advocate/advisor for students, staff and faculty victims of sexual violence. The announcement about adding a CVIC confidential advocate/advisor on campus coincides with UND’s annual Clothesline Project display and Take Back the Night rally, which, for 19 years, have served as reminders that physical and verbal violence against women, children and men still prevail in society.

This past month, the Women’s Center also held a Meet, Eat and Learn in the International Centre that focused on verbal and online harassment. Ashley Schreurs spoke about what these types of bullying look like, their psychological effects and how to have healthier interactions in our relationships.

In a newsletter released by the Women’s Center, they also released a story about college safety, and how to take control of intimidating and potentially escalating situations.  The story gave several tips on how to trust your instincts, stay safe online, and how to be alert and stay safe at parties or when out drinking. These tips are meant to help students stay safe and stop them from becoming the victims of violence.

The Women’s Center is also promoting an app called Circle of 6. This app allows you to connect with up to six different friends, and send them pre-programmed messages in the event of uncomfortable situations. The app also gives you access to two national hotlines and allows you to customize your own local hotline number. This app is meant to be used as a tool to use to look out for your friends, and have them looking out for you.

Katie Haines is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].