Wearing a white wristband is a silent, simple reminder of a goal that’s not nearly as simple or quiet — fostering awareness of domestic and sexual violence.

On Monday, Syracuse University’s White Ribbon Campaign starts, spanning over a week and coordinated through the Division of Student Affairs in collaboration with local nonprofit Vera House. The plan is just that: educate the Syracuse community about domestic violence through wristbands and awareness-raising events.

The week’s events include conversations with speakers on Tuesday and Wednesday, a Thursday night film screening and a Walk a Mile in Her Shoes walk on Friday at noon. The campaign stretches through Wednesday, April 9, with The Advocacy Center’s Take Back the Night march at Hendricks Chapel. This is the first year that the ribbon campaign will be presented during a weeklong schedule of campus events.

Domestic violence is a national concern that’s prevalent within the college-age demographic: according to the Vera House website, the highest rate of domestic violence is experienced by females between 16–24 years old.

“We have to be the advocates for those who can no longer advocate for themselves,” said Ashlee Newman, a junior political science and policy studies major and a co-chair of the White Ribbon Campaign.

Newman’s ties to the campaign are deeply personal. In December of 2011, during the winter break of her freshman year, a cousin died as the victim of an abusive husband. Newman resolved to do what she could to find a way to solve the problem of domestic abuse — it was going to be her that fixed it, she said.

“I never witnessed such sadness and horror in my life,” Newman said.

Inspired by tragedy, Newman sought out the resources available to her on SU’s campus, and reached out to then-Chancellor Nancy Cantor about starting a student campaign.

“You want to do the biggest thing possible when you first start,” she said. “I always had big-scale ideas at first, but you have to think about what we can do to make things effective and raise awareness.”

During his sophomore year as an undergraduate, Paul Ang, now a master’s student in the School of Education and Newman’s co-chair of the White Ribbon Campaign, started to work on the campaign. Ang was part of A Men’s Issue — an on-campus organization exploring masculinity and preventing interpersonal violence.

Newman said the campaign group connected with Thomas V. Wolfe, former dean of student affairs, who helped take the reins of moving the campaign forward.

“Dean Wolfe had reached out for a resurgence of the White Ribbon Campaign,” Ang said.

This year’s on-campus campaign is linked to the 20th anniversary of Vera House’s White Ribbon Campaign, which Ang said has become recognizably visible in the regional area.

The campaign committee — some eight to 10 members attend a full meeting, Ang said — decided earlier in the semester to condense the campaign’s semester-wide events into the span of a week, marking a change from last year’s schedule.

“I was excited when Paul came up with the weeklong idea,” Newman said. “Timing is hard, and we thought the campaign would have more of an impact condensed.”

She added that the planning process of coordinating with several different groups on campus, including The Advocacy Center, E.S Bird Library, the Office of Student Affairs and A Men’s Issue, was a learning experience in and of itself.

“Working with a lot of people with the ability to coordinate made planning easier,” she said. “I learned from it as well, and we really appreciate people who try to get students involved.”

The White Ribbon Campaign will also sell white wristbands as wearable, reflective mementos that stopping domestic violence begins with the conscious understanding that it is an enduring issue.

Said Newman: “I hope the biggest takeaway students have is that they walk away thinking about domestic violence and how they can prevent it.”

Published on March 24, 2014 at 1:00 am

Contact Erik: ervanrhe@syr.edu | @therealvandyman