“Over half of all college students (57%) say it’s difficult to identify dating abuse” (https://www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-statistics/).

At Dickinson College this month, we participate in the national Red Flag Campaign that runs in October in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In 2005, the Red Flag Campaign was created by the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance. This campaign works to prevent sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking on college campuses nationwide (The Red). Students and members of each campus community are encouraged to speak up if they see warning signs or “red flags” for potentially harmful and dangerous behavior in their relationships and those around them. They promote this campaign using the hashtag #SaySomething. The campaign helps students identify unhealthy attributes in their own relationships and works to improve bystander intervention skills. On the official website, free printable handouts are available as further resources for students and campus community members. Topics for handouts include, “Healthy vs. Unhealthy Relationships”, “Helping a Friend Who is Being Abused”, “Examining Your Relationship”, “Bystander Intervention Strategies”, and much more. Based on the statistics from the National Domestic Violence Hotline, “on average, more than 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the U.S. will experience rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner.” The Red Flag Campaign works to combat these statistics and offers students resources to make their campus experiences safer.

Around Dickinson’s campus, students will see physical red flags placed in central locations, such as the academic quad, Morgan Field, and Britton. These flags will be up for the entire month of October. Additionally, red posters have been distributed around campus to provide students with even more resources and information on many crucial topics, like gaslighting, characteristics of unhealthy relationships or partners, and indications for abusive relationships. Around Dickinson’s campus and in the Carlisle community, students may see large wooden silhouettes painted red, known as Silent Witnesses  This project was created by artists and writers in Minnesota and is locally acknowledged through efforts by the Domestic Violence Services of Cumberland and Perry Counties. These Silent Witnesses commemorate people who have been killed due to domestic violence. This initiative hopes to acknowledge these atrocities and promote healing for all those who have suffered.

Alongside the Red Flag Campaign and Domestic Violence Awareness Month, students can attend on-campus events to learn even more.  The Women’s and Gender Resource Center, Office of Sexual Respect and Title IX, and the Wellness Center hosted an event during October: “Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships: Building a Spectrum” on Wednesday, October 13. You can register for the “One Love Escalation Workshop” on Thursday, October 28 (lunch is provided; please register in EngageD). Both events discuss healthy and unhealthy or abusive behaviors and relationships and inform students on how to practice safe habits on campus. Students are encouraged to use the resources provided and reach out if they have experienced relationship violence themselves or know someone who is in an unhealthy and harmful relationship.

Important Resources:

• Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence:
  • https://www.pcadv.org/
  • 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
• National Domestic Violence Hotline:
  • https://www.thehotline.org/
  • 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

• Dickinson College’s 24/7 Confidential Sexual Violence Hotline:
  • 717-609-4244
• Dickinson College’s on-campus Wellness Center:
  • 717-245-1663
• Domestic Violence Services of Cumberland and Perry Counties hotline:
  • 717-258-4806
• YWCA hotline:
  • 1-888-831-8850

Written by Grace Moore ’22, WGRC student worker

October 20, 2021