ASU student groups identify red flags that can lead to dating violence
Did you know that 1 in 5 college students experiences dating violence?
As a community of Sun Devils, students should look out for one another. There can be warning signs of unhealthy relationships and violence that go unnoticed because of the lack of awareness of the red flags we can look for.
The Sexual and Relationship Violence Prevention Program works to provide the ASU community with education, outreach and resources to both contribute to violence prevention and provide support to survivors of violence in our community.
“The Sexual and Relationship Violence Prevention department provides resources to students when they do experience violence and points them in the direction of where they can go to get the help that they need,” said kinesiology major Rachael Mowry, a peer sexual violence prevention facilitator.
In affiliation with the Sun Devil Movement for Violence Prevention, the program sets up events across all four ASU campuses to help raise awareness about unhealthy relationships. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, they also host a variety of virtual events and programs.
On Feb. 28, the Yards for Yeardley event took place at the SDFC West field in Tempe.
Yards for Yeardley was created by three lacrosse players from Boston College and the University of Virginia to honor Yeardley Love, a student from the University of Virginia who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2010.
At Yards for Yeardley, people pledge to walk or run a specific number of yards to fundraise for the One Love Foundation, which helps raise awareness on relationship violence. Along the route, students could read posters with information on many of the different signs of an unhealthy relationship, including isolating behaviors, volatility, possessiveness and more.
The event was the culmination of the Red Flag Campaign at ASU, a series of events that raise awareness about healthy and unhealthy relationships. At the sign-in for the event, students wrote down indicators of unhealthy relationships on little red flags that were planted around the field.
Yards for Yeardley, ASU spring 2020. Photo by Venu Nukavarapu.
“We are encouraging people to run around the track and write down their own relationship red flags so that we can be aware of healthy versus unhealthy relationships so that we can support our friends when they experience them,” Mowry said.
Events like these happened on all ASU campuses to educate students on what to look for and who to tell.
“It’s especially important to be aware of these things for students because a lot of times coming into college, people are experiencing all different kinds of relationships,” Mowry said.
To learn more about the Sexual and Relationship Violence Prevention Program or to report an incident, visit their website.