The recent news of hip-hop artist Chris Brown’s alleged attack on his girlfriend sheds light on a painful truth: dating violence is real, and it happens every day.
Earlier this month, the Office of Victim’s Assistance on campus sent an e-mail survey to all students on the topic of dating violence. According to Mary Friedrichs, director at the Office of Victim’s Assistance, the survey’s purpose was to find out more information about dating violence from students.
“We want to know: in what numbers is this happening?” Friedrichs said.
According to Friedrichs, they have had 1,300 responses and are still receiving information. The surveys are being analyzed by DU doctoral candidate, Brennan Young.
There were 256 cases of dating violence that went through the Office of Victim’s Assistance last fall, Friedrichs stated.
“These cases are divided among 25 reasons, the main ones being serious accidents, felony assaults and misdemeanor assaults,” Friedrichs said.
Dating violence can be defined in several ways.
“There is a huge range of incidents that could be considered dating violence,” said Felicia Montano, 22, a senior psychology major.
Montano is the campus liaison at the Women’s Resource Center in the UMC.
Montano and other volunteers at the Resource Center participated in a workshop with Davian Gagne, the gender violence prevention and education coordinator at the Office of Victim’s Assistance.
“There are so many biases in gender violence,” Montano said. “As females, it isn’t fair that we have to think about our safety every day, and males don’t have to.”
Gagne gives educational presentations and workshops around the CU community to bring awareness to the seriousness of dating violence.
“It’s helpful to know what gender violence is,” Gagne said. “It includes everything from cat-calling, to stalking, even incidents resulting in death.”
According to Findcounseling.com, dating violence is most prevalent among women ages 16 to 24, the exact age group of college students. Because of this, Gagne said she wants to spread awareness.
Many college students fall in this age range and the university has various services for those experiencing dating violence.
“The Office of Victim’s Assistance is here to help,” Friedrichs said.
Talking to someone is free and confidential.
“We work with them to try and develop healthy relationships,” Friedrichs said. “Our goal is to help them take whatever the next step is.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Taylor Coughlin at Taylor.coughlin@colorado.edu.
