By Seriah Sargenton
Assitant Editor
What if you were in a relationship where your partner made you feel worthless? What if he hit you whenever something went wrong? What if he was always yelling?
These are signs of domestic violence. This is why we raise awareness during the month of October.
Anyone in some form of a relationship can end up a victim of this kind of abuse including parents, children, boyfriends, girlfriends, wives, husbands, etc.
One in three women and one in four men become victims of some sort of physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Domestic violence is very real for a lot of people. Some women and men become too afraid to leave their toxic loved ones and get harmed because of it.
I can’t even think about how hard this must be for someone in a domestic violence situation since I have never been in one, but all I can think is how sorry I am for them.
I’m sorry because I wish I could be there to support them and tell them that it’s not their fault.
I want to tell men, women, and children in these situations that they will be okay and that life will get better for them.
Would they believe me though? They lived in constant fear everyday up until they were saved. Their lives will never be the same again.
This situation why domestic violence is important especially at The College of Saint Rose.
Saint Rose offers training sessions for students to learn how to become a preventative for domestic violence.
These trainings methods include the orientation presentation given to each freshmen class during the summer, HAVEN: the online learning portal that guides you through each form of sexual and domestic abuse that one can occur.
If students are further interested they can go to the student affairs office and partake in training sessions with One Love Foundation and It’s On Us.
In addition the Title IX coordinator at Saint Rose is left in charge of ensuring that all situations revolving around domestic or sexual violence is taken seriously and efficiently.
“A pattern of abusive behavior that one person uses to obtain and maintain power and control over their intimate partner. Physical and/or sexual abuse may or may not be present,” defined in the sexual harassment and misconduct policy on the Saint Rose website.
“Coercive control is always present. Relationship Violence is purposeful and systematic, involves a fixed imbalance of power that has been created over time, and is driven by a sense of entitlement.”
In the policy is states that the college will investigate the situation and if it is determined that their is relationship violence (domestic violence) that person shall be removed or expelled for violating the policy. In addition the college will make a note on the students transcript about the violation.
While the trainings and the policy are great because both outline what the college will do on their part to prevent sexual and interpersonal violence, I think the questions we all have is what do they do during the semester?
Last year the college introduced a new member of the Title IX team, Amanda Bastiani. Bastini is the college’s Associate Director of Violence Protection and Non-Discrimination Education.
Bastiani will be tabling every Thursday outside of Camelot in the Events and Athletic Center at Saint Rose to bring awareness to the issues surrounding domestic violence.
If students should email Bastiani at bastiana@strose.edu if they want to become a difference and learn more about the trainings and programs they can participate in to better become an advocate for victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse.
