Bailey Thompson | News Editor
Alpha Chi Omega sisters in black dresses and purple ribbons welcomed guests on Nov. 1 to their event with Kappa Sigma, “My Little Black Dress Doesn’t Mean Yes.” The Greek organizations joined together to raise funds for The Center for Hope and Safety, a domestic violence shelter in Salem.
“We help victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and stalking,” said Stephen Broncho, the Community Engagement Manager at The Center for Hope and Safety. “Last year, we had over 26,000 contacts to our program.”
Two Alpha Chi Omega members shared their personal experiences with domestic violence, and the President of Kappa Sigma and senior computer science major, Brandon Linton, conveyed a number of statistics about the prevalence of domestic violence in the United States, particularly amongst college-aged women. However, he also stated that there is no one type of person domestic violence targets.
“Domestic violence does not care about your age, your race, your skin color, your religion or your sexual orientation,” said Linton. “Domestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels.”
Linton then stated that the biggest problem survivors of domestic violence face is not being heard. Although survivors have many reasons for not reporting, he shared that some of the most common ones include not believing the police could help, not wanting to get the abuser in trouble, not feeling their experience was important enough to report and being afraid of retaliation.
“I’m here to tell you that there are people in this room and on this campus who care about you,” Linton said. “It is up to us to change the stigma and stereotypes about domestic violence and expose domestic violence for what it is. Too often these terrible crimes go unnoticed — unseen and unspoken — and the cycle of violence continues thriving.”
Although there is still a long way to go, Vice President Philanthropy of Alpha Chi Omega and sophomore ASL/English interpreting major, Serenna Galloway, shared that she has hope that events like this will make a positive change in Western’s community.
“It’s something that’s so prominent right now, and to have a fraternity join with a sorority and break the stigma of that is awesome,” Galloway said. “We hope that other survivors will be able to speak up, or if they need someone to rely on, they know that they can come to us and we’ll find resources for them…we know sometimes it’s harder to come up yourself, so when you have support it’s a lot easier.”
Through their 50/50 and prize basket raffles, Alpha Chi Omega and Kappa Sigma ultimately raised $779 for Center for Hope and Safety.
If anyone is in need of resources provided by Center for Hope and Safety, their 24-hour hotline is (503) 399-7722.
Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu
Photo courtesy of Bailey Thompson
