(10/22/08 6:55am)
“She doesn’t let me hang out with my friends. She says she should be enough.”This is one of six messages written on posters around Grounds for the Red Flag Campaign, an awareness campaign launched through the Women’s Center. The campaign attempts to draw attention to the problem of intimate partner violence, as October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.According to the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, one partner is being abused in one out of every five college dating relationships. Many people associate domestic violence with physical abuse, but the Red Flag Campaign is trying to demonstrate that violence is not always physical — it can be emotional, too. The posters place an emphasis on identifying the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships as well as signs of abusive behavior, including coercion, sexual assault, isolation, jealousy, emotional abuse and victim-blaming.Many young people find it hard to identify violence in their relationships because serious relationships can be a new experience.“It’s hard for some students to distinguish how you should be treated, especially in college relationships, because they’ve never done it before,” said third-year College student Katie Gorman, the sexual and domestic violence services outreach intern at the Women’s Center. National statistics support this idea: According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 16- to 24-year-old women experience the highest per capita rates of intimate violence, at a rate almost triple the national average.In light of these facts, the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance decided to embark on the Red Flag Campaign to raise awareness about these issues where they are widespread: on college campuses.Claire Kaplan, director of sexual and domestic violence services at the Women’s Center and who also helped shape the Red Flag Campaign as part of the initial development committee, said planning for the campus awareness program started three years ago with a grant from the Verizon Foundation. A campus task force comprised of students, personnel and community-victim advocates developed the materials and vetted them past student groups. Last year the University hosted a focus group in which students provided feedback about the stalking content of the campaign.A variety of campuses across Virginia participate in this campaign, and the program is slowly spreading to become a national initiative.Campaign advocates are hanging up posters around Grounds, distributing flag pens that list qualities of healthy relationships and planting red flags around Grounds to remind students of the intimate-partner violence problem. What distinguishes this campaign from other awareness campaigns, Kaplan said, is its ability to speak to third parties.Both Kaplan and Gorman said friends and family of a victim are often the first ones to come forward about intimate violence, which is one of the reasons why the posters have not just examples of red flag behavior, but “talk boxes” that respond to those behaviors. “It empowers people to act,” Kaplan said. The campaign is “not just speaking to victims, it tells a third party, ‘You can do something, too,’” Warrenetta Mann, multicultural coordinator at Counseling and Psychological Services, praised these sorts of awareness campaigns.“Campaigns [like this] give individuals things they can do and actions they can take in everyday life to have a specific impact,” she said, noting domestic violence is “something growing amongst younger people and couples that lots of college counseling centers are worried about. I think it’s good that students are addressing it within their own community.”While the campaign is focused primarily on raising awareness, Kaplan reiterated the importance of peer education groups in the process and how they are expected to educate the student body. University students developed a forum to discuss these issues yesterday in the Kaleidoscope Room in Newcomb Hall.Fourth-year College student Evelyn Hall, co-chair of the Sexual Assault Leadership Council, said a representative from the Shelter for Help in Emergency gave a broad overview of domestic violence by defining it and giving signs and instructions about how to help a friend. The second half of the forum was a panel in which survivors of domestic violence shared their personal stories. The variety of panelists, Hall said, highlighted non-traditional forms of domestic violence and allowed attendees to understand the effects abuse can have on students’ broader experiences at the University.“The panel is an opportunity to gain very private insight on intimate partner violence experience of peers; it provides key insights about issues that are often swept under the rug,” she said. “Hearing personal stories is one of the most influential ways to change perspectives.”The work done by student education groups and the awareness campaigns attempts to bring light to a situation that Kaplan said students “may not even recognize because of a normalized environment.”Gorman agreed that people think intimate partner abuse “is a private issue,” she said. “But you need to speak up. You need to say ‘I don’t think he’s treating you right, you deserve better than this.’”Kaplan said for an aggressor to hear someone else speak about intimate partner abuse “is amazing — way more than I can do. This [campaign] makes people feel good that there is something they can do.”
(09/09/08 4:51am)
For some students, a trip to the dining hall is just about choosing what foods look the best. For others, however, the choice isn’t as simple.“If I ingest peanuts, my tongue and throat will swell up, and I’ll go into anaphylactic shock,” second-year College student Brandi Bell said.For students like Bell who have severe allergies, meal planning involves a lot more than just getting basic nutrients.“I was really afraid of cross-contamination at the dining halls and whether or not I could eat any of the baked goods,” she said. University Dining Services recognizes these issues and makes an effort to accommodate those with strict dietary restrictions through a variety of different programs. For students with food intolerances or allergies, “the number one thing is safety,” University Dining Services nutritionist Paula Caravati said, encouraging students to come forward and get to know the staff. University Dining Services arranges meetings with a student, the nutritionist and the production staff. Caravati explained that first-year students can meet managers and key cooks so they can feel comfortable asking for accommodations.Bell said at orientation she approached University Dining Services about her peanut allergy.“They said they would make separate dishes for me, but I never followed through on any of that stuff,” Bell said. Even though Bell decided not to get a meal plan her second year largely because of the limitations of her diet, University Dining Services is ready and willing to make special accommodations for those who ask. The University works to form a “partnership” with the student, Caravati said. “It’s a give and take ... we want to personalize and individualize the service.”Caravati added, though, that this requires student to work with the staff. To facilitate that partnership, students can have access to the kitchen, storage room and recipes if they have any concerns regarding their allergies or intolerances. If students need more information than University Dining can provide, they are generally referred to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network for more information, Caravati said.While many students have to follow a strict diet because of physical intolerances, others closely watch what they eat for religious reasons. Hillel, a community of Jewish students, approached University Dining to create a partnership that would allow students to practice their kosher diets at school, said Darryl Rudge, operations manager of the Fontana Food Center, which provides baked goods to the dining halls.Rudge, who now works with Hillel in creating a kosher menu, said the menu includes a variety of items but mainly consists of different kosher sandwich items. According to Executive Chef Bryan Kelly, some pre-packaged hot meals are available, which are either cooked in an oven or a microwave. These kosher items are available at Observatory Hill and Newcomb Dining Halls Monday through Thursday, and the meals are prepared in the Hillel kitchen.Third-year College student Miriam Todras, who cooks in the Hillel kitchen Fridays, explained how Aramark employees prepare the meals during the week — they cannot bring outside food into the kitchen, and meat and dairy are kept separate during the cooking process. She, too, has to follow these rules when preparing the Shabbat dinner at the Hillel house Friday nights. In addition to the kosher menu, University Dining also accommodates Hillel in other ways. Second-year College student Rebecca Effron, an intern for Hillel, said Hillel provides any student who wants to keep kosher during Passover an opportunity to eat with other Jewish students at Newcomb Dining Hall. The group provides lunch and dinner every night of Passover, even for students who do not have a meal plan. “It’s just good because being at school, you really miss eating with your family, and meals are a huge part of Passover,” Effron said. “It’s a nice way to get that feeling again.”University Dining Services also recognizes the special needs of vegetarians who have their own set of dietary restrictions. Like the kosher menu, the vegetarian menu was expanded because of student demand, primarily through a group of vocal vegans, Caravati said. Through student request and response, the dining program has developed and expanded a healthy vegetarian food selection.Second-year College student Paul Murray is one student benefiting from University Dining Services’ efforts. Since January 2008, Murray has tried to keep all animal products except for eggs out of his diet.“If I can see the meat in it, I don’t eat it, and if it’s been cooked with meat, I don’t eat it,” he said. Murray said he believes the dining halls provided an adequate selection for his dietary lifestyle.“They’re really, really good about labeling things properly and keeping things updated,” he said. “Every once in a while, they’ll throw in a dish [at Newcomb] that’s mind-blowingly good. Sometimes you have to be a little more adventurous and try new things. It’s worth being adventurous once in a while.”Murray’s only complaint was the lack of variety.“They do have enough [vegetarian] food to survive on, and I don’t expect to be really that catered to,” he said. “They do cater to a vegetarian, but it’s not gourmet by any means.”Caravati said a main vegetarian meal is always provided, and certain specializations have been created, such as the vegetarian bar at O-Hill. Like students with allergies, vegetarians with meal plans can take advantage of nutritional counseling to help them create a nutritious dining plan, she said.Sustainable dining practices have also been a recent goal of dining. Green Dining initiatives include providing food that is local, humanely raised, organically grown, fairly traded and seasonal. These practices, Kelly said, are vital for a variety of reasons, including reduced carbon dioxide emissions, increased nutritional value, increased food biodiversity and the promotion of local economies. Fourth-year College student Graham Evans, who worked as a part of Student Council’s Environmental Sustainability Committee and the Green Dining task force, explained the role of implementing the idea into the University’s meal system. With a surge in student interest from a variety of groups, members of the Green Dining organization met with University Dining Services employees to discuss how to provide sustainable food items to students, including cage-free eggs at the Observatory Hill Dining Hall and organic food items at Crossroads. The organization also helped establish a system that could allow University Dining Services to establish purchasing priorities.Though some student groups have already been active in pursuing various changes in dining halls on Grounds, Evans highlighted the importance of greater student responsibility.Students “have to educate themselves and be willing to make the same sacrifices as everyone else in the world,” he said.