Advocates’ Purple Week: Intimate Partner Violence Awareness
Mark your calendars, St. Lawrence University. This Monday marks the beginning of purple week! Now is about when people start asking themselves what purple week exactly is. Well, if you find yourself wondering what purple week is, you are not alone. After a survey conducted on 50 random students in the student center, only 11 of them knew what purple week is, and only at a very basic level. Purple week is one of the most important weeks on campus but has very little attention due to lack of media coverage and the stigma surrounding the subject matter.
What and Who:
Purple week is a week in October on campus that is dedicated to bringing awareness to intimate partner violence. It is put on by the Advocates club on campus and works to raise money for the Renewal House while raising awareness about this type of partner violence. The goal of the Advocates is to support all types of survivors and to educate the public on what these subjects can look like. The Renewal House is an off-campus house that gives support to survivors within the Canton area and community. This house gives a safe haven to victims of intimate partner violence and provides the resources necessary to keep their residents and clients safe.
President of the Advocates, Lucky Amoding ‘23, spoke about this upcoming week in a very positive light. She, along with the rest of the club, anticipate a very educational week filled with fun activities. About this year in particular, she stated, “We’re especially going to shed light on survivors who identify as male.” The club is trying to bring awareness to every type of survivor, breaking the stereotyped stigma.
Secretary of the club, Nina Spinney ‘25, also agrees that this week is “a really great way to bring awareness to and empower victims of intimate partner violence.” The club members, along with Spinney, have made it clear that the stigma around intimate partner violence needs to end, and they are challenging it by working to empower victims and bring awareness to the issue.
When and Where:
Monday: At 7 p.m. in the Winston room, the Advocates has brought Marissa Cohen to speak about unhealthy relationships. She will give examples of what an unhealthy relationship can look like and how to spot one. This is one of the most important events of the week, as Marissa Cohen is well known for her knowledge about the subject, and because this talk is very beneficial especially towards young adults.
Tuesday: The Dub is hosting their annual ‘Take Back the Night’ event in Gunnison Chapel at 7 p.m. This is an event where survivors speak about their experiences with such sensitive subjects. It is intended to raise awareness and is a place to support those who are speaking. This can be a very heavy event, but it is so important to campus and to the survivors, so it is of the utmost importance to show respect and understanding when inside the chapel.
Wednesday: The Advocates are teaming up with Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGA) to host ‘Empower Hour Yoga’ at 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room in the fitness center. This event will be led by yoga instructor Lilian English. Lilian is going to lead a yoga session intended to empower our bodies and minds. This event will be a good way to relax and decompress in the middle of the week.
Thursday: At 7 p.m., Townhouse 602 is graciously hosting a S’mores self- care night. Along with the fire and S’mores supplies, the townhouse will provide the materials to write a letter to burn. This can be a letter written to yourself, someone else, or to nobody. After the letters have been written, the participants will burn their letters if they so please, and hopefully this brings about some semblance of peace.
Friday: At 3:30 p.m., the lovely ladies of Chi Omega will be hosting pumpkin painting. It will be $2 to participate and paint a pumpkin, with all the money raised being donated to the Renewal House. This event will help people get in the Halloween spirit while supporting a good cause.
Every day of the week, the Advocates will have a table set up in the student center. There will be raffle tickets for sale, for which the winners of some fun prizes will be drawn at the end of the week. They will also be dropping off Halloween candy bags. Participants of the candy drop will fill a bag with candy, then an advocate will deliver it to whoever’s door the participant wishes on campus.
Vice President Erin Kingston believes that Purple Week is “extremely important to this campus as it serves as a time to remind us that there is still a lot more work to do in educating the community about the effects of intimate partner violence, healthy relationships, and how to better support victims of this type of violence.”
This upcoming week can be very triggering and bring up a lot of trauma and emotions for many of the student of SLU. The Advocates urge anyone whom this may impact to call their hotline at any hour of the day or night. There will always be a trained advocate on the other side of the phone willing to discuss any matter big or small. Do not hesitate to call in any circumstance as this issue is better faced with support. The phone number is (315) 244-5466. There will also be trained advocates walking around campus all week, and they will be in attendance at every event. You can identify them by their SLU Advocates sweatshirts, which are grey quarter-zips with red lettering that say Advocate on them.