Bruised and black-eyed participants of the annual Walk With Me event, organized by Wellness Education Services, attempted to raise awareness about victims of domestic violence on Tuesday.
Students began the event by fashioning imitations of injuries and applying large pieces of tape over their mouths to represent the female and male victims of domestic violence whose cases often go unheard.
Walk With Me is an annual event at UB that is a part of a larger effort to put a stop to domestic violence. According to Rogia Rosemberg, the event's coordinator, the statewide event is held on the various college campuses in the state usually on the same day and close to the same hour.
The Living Art Exhibit's display, which was supplemented by a march, attempted to put faces to the issue.
"We paint bruises on students and...they hold signs so people can read their statistics. This is so people can get a visual of domestic violence," Rosemberg said.
The components of the event included a project called "These Hands Don't Hurt" and the physical march of the Walk With Me event through the campus promenade served to convey a message to the University community to stop domestic violence.
The project acted as a pledge for people to avoid violence.
"We started a project, which is like a pledge to be nonviolent and it is called 'These Hands Don't Hurt,'" Rosemberg said. "Basically, we asked faculty and students to paint their hands on the banner... this is their pledge to be nonviolent."
Also, marchers walked along the Academic Spine at 1 p.m. conveying a loud message to students walking to and from classes.
Many participants in the march were from the organizations such as the Wellness Education Services, SBI Health Education and the Men's Group, all of which helped organize the event.
Bukumi Olubiyi, a senior health and human services major, participated in the march to help raise awareness through the event.
"I'm happy that this opportunity is here for students to learn about domestic violence. I have seen how brutal it gets. Anything I can do makes me feel like I can make a change," Olubiyi said.
Claudia Neba, a junior communication major, witnessed the walk through campus as it concluded back at the Student Union.
"I think it's great what they're doing. I think it will bring about more awareness," Neba said.
Another participant in the walk, sophomore English major Amanda Fromm, said she thought it was an effective way to bring change.
"There are other events that do it off campus, just throughout the city, and it's also really important to have it centralized on campus because it's where a lot of the violence occurs. I definitely think it's a prominent issue," Fromm said.
The Verizon Hopeline Project, which provides on-campus drop boxes, was promoted as part of the event.
"Basically, Verizon takes old phones and...(they) are refurbished and...(given) to victims of domestic violence," Rosemberg said.
"I think it's very effective to have it at a time during the day like this event was," Rosemberg said. "A lot of people saw it so they were interested. When you have signs, even when people walk by and don't want to say anything, they look at the signs."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
