Kennesaw State’s Office of Victim Services set up an informational table on Tuesday, Oct. 16, in the atrium of the Social Sciences building to honor October as National Domestic Violence Awareness month.
At this table, Victim Services asked passersby to take the Purple Hands Pledge, a pledge that states “I will not use my hands or my words for hurting myself or others.”
Domestic Violence Awareness Month is meant to recognize an issue with domestic violence around the world. Director of Victim Services Tanya Smith said that victims of domestic violence usually feel humiliated and often resort to silence.
Smith explained that the Office of Victim Services is available on campus to give a voice to the voiceless.
“We believe that voices have power, therefore we need to support those voices to speak out and take a stand to end the cycle of abuse,” Smith said. “We raise awareness and educate others because knowledge is power.”
Smith said that there is no way to specifically tell what domestic violence looks like and that anyone, regardless of racial, cultural, gender and age background, can be a victim of domestic violence.
“Domestic violence is abuse that occurs in an intimate or family relationship and involves any behavior with the intent to gain control and power over another,” Smith said. “It goes beyond physical violence. It is the humiliation and manipulation through coercion, threats, fear, stalking and isolation of one person in a relationship by the other.”
Smith said that an important first step to ending domestic violence is to recognize the signs and always report abuse. She said that there is never an excuse for the violence, and she warned that ignoring it will not make the issue go away.
Smith explained that it is important to support people that students might know who may be in an abusive situation and to “help guide the victim to those resources and help spread the word and break the cycle.”
The Purple Hands Pledge is not the only event that Victim Services is having this month. At 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, Victim Services is collaborating with LiveSafe Resources and the surrounding community to hold a candlelight vigil for those who lost their lives to domestic violence in 2018.
According to the police department’s daily crime logs, there have been 10 reported cases of dating violence and domestic violence on campus in 2018 — nine on the Kennesaw campus and one on the Marietta campus.
If you or someone you know is being affected by domestic violence, contact the Office of Victim Services at (470) 578-4257 or ovs@kennesaw.edu. To report anonymously, students can fill out a concern form on KSU’s website.