Angela Scionti
Equinox Staff
Dozens of crumpled balls of paper flew through the air, inscribed with personal stories and emotions, hastily scribbled down to be crushed, thrown and forgotten. Just like any form of abuse, the crumpled piece of paper will “always have lines, and it will always be there when you unravel the piece of paper,” Hersch Chaim, a KSC sophomore, said. That is how Mentors of Violence Prevention (MVP) ended their interactive conference “Love Hurts” held on campus on Feb. 25.
melinda noel / equinox staff
MVP members speak about confronting abuse and violence at the Redfern on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013.
The event held in the Alumni Recital intended to provide students a reflective view on abusive relationships. With an estimate of 100 people and only an hour to absorb the information, KSC students Adrianna Cardinal, Jacob Richard, Hersch Chaim, Natasha Cable, Mike Fox and Alex DiBernardo were the MVP representatives in charge of the presentation.
MVP is a student-run organization brought to Keene State College in 2003. Taken from MVP’s website, the organization “offers programs that motivate students to be leaders in solving problems that have historically been considered ‘women’s issues’: rape, battering, and sexual harassment. Using a unique ‘bystander approach,’ MVP approaches students, not as potential perpetrators or victims, but as engaged bystanders who can confront abusive peers.”
Chaim described MVP’s mission was to “try to teach peers and use the bystander approach.”
The main focus of the presentation was to “inform students about sexual assault and relationship violence and how to be an active bystander,” Adrianna Cardinal said. Cardinal said sexual abuse is that “it’s across the country, all age groups. Most people who are being abused don’t want to report it, whether it’s for fear of being abused further or people do not know how to report it.”
During the interactive presentation MVP gave, the group addressed scenarios with the audience for feedback.
“Fighting violence with violence is stupid,” one of the students in the audience said. He responded to a question asked by the speakers. “[Is it] okay for a man to hit first if the girl is going to hit back?”
MVP went on to explain the cycle of abuse: building of stress, explosion, reconciliation and honeymoon stage.
The cycle of abuse is a series of concepts developed in the 1970’s by Leonore Walker, a professor at Nova Southeastern University that specializes in the psychological treatment of spousal and sexual assault or abuse. In Walker’s book, “The Battered Woman,” she explains that if someone ignores abuse for “sustained periods of living in such a cycle may lead to learned helplessness and battered person syndrome.”
The cycle of abuse portion of the presentation was heavily influenced by the audience’s interactions and input with personal experiences. One audience member shared how she and her mother witnessed a man striking his partner outside on a house porch and how her mother tried to intervene and stop him.
At the end of the presentation MVP member Alex DiBernardo had the audience write down a piece of paper about an abusive experience they had or someone that they knew. After the audience wrote down their experience, they were told to crumple up the paper and throw it in the air. Some audience members read aloud the pieces of paper that fell near them that a contained personal account.
KSC sophomore Douglas Young attended the presentation. He said that he found the presentation, “definitely useful and interesting.”
Cardinal encouraged people that have been involved in cases of abuse and violence to report the incidents and look for help. He expressed that victims “should seek support, get help–either at least a friend if not a counselor at Keene State or Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention. It’s the local crisis center that also supports the campus.”
The on-campus counseling center provides a Sexual Assault/Harassment Education and Prevention Program. According to the Keene State College Counseling Center website it is “designed to inform students about sexual assault and sexual harassment from policy and procedures to prevention and risk reduction.”
Cardinal recommended the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention (a New Hampshire charitable foundation) as option for victims to receive support and therapy.
The foundation first started to cater to abuse victims in 1982 and now has three facilities operating in Peterborough, Jaffery and Keene. The Keene facility is located off campus on 12 Court St. It provides multiple services including prevention programs, a 24-hour crisis line, peer counseling, support groups and more.
MVP representatives indicated during their event that if you students are dealing with an abusive relationship or know someone who is currently going through it, they need to consider taking the time to contact the resources that the college and the Keene community provides. They suggested individuals that are not going through these situation to remember to be active bystanders and collaborate with fellow students and loved ones when they face trouble.
Angela Scionti can be contacted at ascionti@keene-equinox.com