Victims remembered- Words of abused encourage student reflection

“There comes a day of reckoning . when the weak
become strong, and the silent speak.”

This was just one voice that hung from a clothesline
in the Commons Plaza Wednesday.

This message was written on a white shirt – colorcoded
to represent an individual who died from a
form of violence.

The display stood as witness to past atrocities, depicting
a reality that directly affects 20 to 25 percent of
women in colleges nationwide. The Clothesline Project
is a national program designed to raise awareness about
violence against women and to show support for victims
and survivors of sexual or physical abuse.

“It’s an awareness event. It gives survivors and their
loved ones a voice,” said Tammy McKeown, VCU’s
coordinator for sexual assault services.

The Clothesline Project, whose cosponsors included
several student groups, such as Sexual Assault and
Dating Violence Education by Students, made its
way to VCU about 10 years ago and continues under
McKeown’s direction.

It is one of several events that highlight October
as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a title it
acquired in 1981.

A number of students stood around the clothesline
with notebooks and pens, writing down personal
responses to the display. The students copied phrases
from the shirts they considered particularly striking.

“A lot of professors offer extra credit to their
students if they write a reflection paper on The
Clothesline Project,” said McKeown, who presented
this opportunity to the students in her Introduction
to Women’s Studies classes.

“You get an emotional response from reading what
these victims have written,” said Linda Hancock, director
of the Office of Health Promotion and McKeown’s
supervisor.

Most of the shirts on display were part of a traveling
Clothesline Project and were disbursed by one source,
McKeown said. Last year, the sponsors of the event
directly invited VCU students to contribute.

“We display all of the shirts contributed by VCU
students, but we don’t have space to hang all the
community shirts,” McKeown said.

VCU hosts The Clothesline Project twice a year,
in October and April, the latter of which is Sexual
Assault Awareness Month.

“It is a never-ending job informing students about
the things going on in campus,” and the resources
that are available, Hancock said.

“The OHP has a health resource room that houses all
types of health empowerment information for students,
including sexual assault . information,” she said.

Some students think the resource room is inefficient
in providing resources along those lines.

The resource library is “severely insufficient,” said
Ashton Hudgins, member of Students for a Democratic
Society at VCU. SDS is one of several organizations
petitioning for a resource center to be established on
a permanent basis.

“There was a small resource center opened in 2005,
but it was funded by a temporary grant and was closed
after representatives from the grant-issuing organization
visited the center and found it severely lacking,”
said Ethan Labowitz, student life committee delegate
of the Monroe Park Campus Student Government
Association.

The resource center was more academically oriented,
Hancock said. The materials currently housed in the
resource room in the OHP include materials taken
from the center after it was closed down.

VCU collaborates with organizations, such as the
YWCA and Faith Harbor, “sharing resources as often
as possible,” Hancock said. “It’s a never-ending process
educating people about what resources exist.”

The Clothesline Project Color Code

White – for those who have
died.

Yellow and beige – for those
who have been battered or
assaulted

Red, pink and orange – for
survivors of rape or sexual
assault

Blue and green – for survivors
of incest or child sexual abuse

Purple and lavender – for
those attacked because of their
sexual orientation

Black – for those attacked for
political reasons