Students gathered Thursday outside James Branch Cabell Library to protest the closing of VCU’s resource center, an on-campus site providing support for victims of sexual abuse.
Lindsey French, a fashion design major, was one of many passers-by who signed the protesters’ petition to keep the center open. Though she has never been to the center, French said providing resources for victims of assault is important.
“I’ve had close calls,” French said. “I know how important it is to talk about it.”
Women’s studies and political science double-major Charlotte Dodge was one of the protesters. She said center supporters have met with university officials to find a way to keep the center open.
The resource center is being shut down, she said, because insufficient student interest justified the withdrawal of needed funding. Dodge said popularizing the center is a major priority for its workers.
“We’re trying to take the opportunity . to move the structure hopefully someplace more central to campus,” Dodge said. “Most people didn’t even know where the resource center was.”
The center, located at 1014 W. Franklin St., is available to students, staff and faculty who seek information about stalking, dating violence and sexual assault.
Protester Paul Messplay, an international studies major, said the center is different from other resources available to students. Unlike the university’s student health clinics or the Fan Free Clinic, the resource center allows emotionally vulnerable patients to remain anonymous.
The protest, Messplay said, was a student grassroots movement organized by Students for a Democratic Society.
“We feel this is an issue that’s swept under the rug,” Messplay said. “The reason there’s lack of interest is that it’s not been made a prominent issue on campus.”