In the wake of the college “red zone,” campus organizations like the University of Iowa sorority Alpha Chi Omega have been trying to aid in the fight against sexual assault and domestic violence alongside the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, also known as DVIP, which has been working hard since officially taking over the Rape Victims Advocacy Program’s, also known as RVAP, services.
Purple was dawned across America during October to mark a month people might brush over or not even acknowledge. But for victims, survivors, advocates, and families of domestic abuse survivors, this month means so much more.
National Domestic Violence Awareness Month takes place in October every year in hopes of uniting people across Iowa and nationwide to bring awareness to this cause.
According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, an average of 24 people per minute are victims of rape, stalking, or physical violence. More starkly, over one in three women and one in four men in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
These numbers only increase for college students, specifically female college students. A report done by the Association of American Universities found that college women are 50 percent more likely to get sexually assaulted than robbed.
“I always get blown away when people [in the chapter] even tell me that they have either a personal domestic violence experience or someone they know had a personal domestic violence experience. It’s not something physical you can see on them. It’s something personal.” Pratibha Khatri, the president of the Alpha Chi sorority at the UI, said.
Alpha Chi’s philanthropy is focused on domestic violence and raises awareness year-round of the dangers and high numbers of violence on and off campus.
In what has been deemed “the red zone,” these numbers continue to grow. The red zone is the first four months of school, starting with students on campus. Studies show more than 50 percent of sexual assaults happening on campus happen during this period.
This time, marked by crisp fall Saturday morning game days, Halloween costume planning, and the excitement of new classes, can also be terrifying for students.
October is in the eye of the red zone, with Halloween weekend in full swing. Community resources have shifted their focus on raising awareness of this ever-important issue at the forefront of many minds during October.
“We always have to look at our resources and how we’re spending our financial contributions and our tuition money. So, it made sense to us to work with DVIP and they were eager to do it, too, so it seemed to us like an actual partnership,” UI President Barbara Wilson said in an interview with The Daily Iowan.
The first of October marked the official start of the services offered through the Johnson County nonprofit.
“This first month has just been some of that awareness around the open hours at the Women’s Resource and Action Center, allowing our staff to really get some footing, and how things are working, protocols and that sort of thing,” Alta Medea, director of community engagement for DVIP, said.
Medea has been with the program in some capacity for the last 25 years and has held her current position for the past seven years.
DVIP has been organizing a multitude of events to raise awareness throughout the community and campus during October — including the expansion of campus resources. The transition has allowed DVIP to expand its resources and become more involved on campus, including holding an open house at the Women’s Resource and Action Center, or WRAC.
“With the red zone, we are doing more sexual assault awareness activities, and that’s what our campus advocates are doing. We offer open hours for sexual assault victims on Mondays and Thursdays, from 3 to 5 p.m., out of our offices at the Women’s Resource and Action Center,” Medea said.
The Women’s Resource and Action Center is housed at the Bowman House on Clinton Street. The open hours are an initiative for the organization to become more involved with the university.
Because the transition is fresh to the UI community and the eight counties that DVIP serves, Medea and the team at DVIP have been working to get the word out to people in need with initiatives like flyers and announcements on screens across campus.
There are also plans to roll out a coaster campaign around bars and restaurants, as well as tag flyers across the DVIP service area.
“Flyers will be put up generally in bathroom stalls and public spaces that have a small tear-off part that is our hotline number for folks to be able to tuck into their sock or their shoe to discreetly to take our number and have access to that so they can call us when they are safer,” Medea said.
Although the services are new to the DVIP program, their main focus in October and all year is helping victims and survivors.
“October is the highest time [for sexual assault] for the University of Iowa campus. And so certainly, just meeting victim survivors, where they are, attending nurse exams and supporting victims is really our primary focus right now,” Medea said.
She said 32 individuals in the DVIP service have been helped since the beginning of October. Twenty-three of whom have been helped in Johnson County. The number of those victims who are UI students has not yet been released.
With domestic violence and sexual assault at the forefront of many minds this month, many events have been taking place to rally around the new program.
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“It’s really important for the university just to understand even though it might not physically seem like someone’s impacted by it, we are in this red zone. It’s an actual emerging issue just because you don’t physically see it on someone, it doesn’t mean that someone doesn’t have a connection.” Khatri said.
Alongside “Wear Purple Day,” DVIP and Alpha Chi have been promoting various events around the communities they serve.
“Shop for Shelter is an event is at all local areas, Hy-Vees and Fareways, and is our largest in-kind donation drive of the year. The items we gather that day are non-perishable food items, health and beauty items, everything from diapers and formula to shampoo and conditioner to snacks for kids,” Medea said.
The event was held on Oct. 19. Participating stores around the area include shops in North Liberty, Iowa City, and University Heights.
“The items that get donated by the community go to support victim-survivors. Those supplies last us about six months at our emergency shelter and are distributed, obviously, to those in need.” Medea said.
The Terry Fortmann Emergency Shelter is DVIP’s new emergency shelter, which will house both domestic violence and sexual assault victims.
Alongside Shop for Shelter, the organization receives city and county proclamations throughout the cities and counties they serve.
During the Oct. 1 Iowa City City Council meeting, the need for the new shelter was stressed while the proclamation was being accepted.
“We will be doubling our capacity to serve victim-survivors and also be able to expand what we are doing with emergency sheltering.” Allison Tippee, a representative for the program, said during the Oct. 1 meeting while accepting the proclamation on behalf of DVIP.
Medea also spoke about the importance of education in the community during this time, especially at the UI.
“Different advocates within our agency have gone to the women in [the] business group and are going to various other classes that we’ve been invited into to come and speak just about our services, about the red flags, warning signs of domestic violence or intimate partner violence, as well as how to support your friends,” Medea said.
Alpha Chi, an organization with female college students as their members, stresses the importance of talking to friends or community members about this issue.
“I think it’s just important that people get educated on not only what domestic violence is, but what survivors need. I think what the university does well is letting people know the different resources for domestic violence can help,” Khatri said. “Ultimately, know how to support survivors because it’s more than just being a listening ear.”
Through education and bringing awareness throughout October and beyond, Medea, Khatri, and their organizations hope this can help prevent abuse in the future.
“The only way to change is by learning what abuse is. I think many of us have various types of relationship models to us. And so if we’re able to say what a healthy relationship is, what the green flags are, that is just as important as being able to identify what the red flags are,” Medea said.
DVIP works on sexual assault and domestic violence prevention in many forms — including more campus-focused initiatives to hopefully create a safer campus and Halloween.
Along with fundraising for DVIP, Alpha Chi creates and participates in many events across campus — including tabling for “Healthy Relationship Week” in February.
“It doesn’t just have to be a romantic relationship. It can be a platonic family relationship. This can be related to domestic violence, and most people aren’t aware of that. So we [Alpha Chi] have a whole week in February to really promote,” Khatri said.
Medea said these efforts are intended to support survivors across the UI campus and Eastern Iowa.
“Victims are often made to feel like no one will believe them, that they’re completely alone, and so if we can take that conversation and make it public right, we can show that we believe victims,” Medea said.