The Quinnipiac University Survivor Advocacy Alliance presented a panel about intimate partner violence in college in the Carl Hansen Student Center Piazza on Oct. 26.
Keira Hines, the president and founder of SAA and a junior nursing major, created the organization in her first year to support survivors of intimate partner violence, domestic abuse, sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence. The SAA became an official organization on campus in 2023.
“We just want to foster community on campus so that no one feels alone and they know that there are people that have struggled with the same thing as them and so everyone is here to support each other,” Hines said.
Some students who experience IPV or gender-based violence may not be comfortable going through channels like Title IX for help, said Maria Cantos, a senior finance major and a member of SAA. Being a member of the organization can support those students.
“I’m an advocate for being a mentor for people who need support,” Cantos said. “So, as soon as I saw the name of the organization, I was like, ‘Yes’ — I want to be somebody that can be relied on.”
The organization created the panel to bring attention to domestic violence awareness month, Hines said. Lily Philipczak, the SAA secretary and a staff writer for The Chronicle, contacted the professors on the panel, while Hines reached out to the student-run organization Defend the Den which empowers students to speak up in situations such as sexual harassment, bullying, and bias-related incidents.
“The goal is to remind people that domestic violence does exist behind closed doors and to know the warning signs, to realize that maybe you’ve been a victim and of course how to support victims on campus and off campus,” Hines said.
Hines said that the SAA has not had a lot of students show up to its events in the past, so an event like this can help get their organization out there more.
“I’m hoping maybe the panel is a way to spread awareness beyond just SAA members and open it up to the whole Quinnipiac community,” Hines said.
Shalita Sampson, a licensed clinical social worker with a domestic violence specialty and an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac, defined domestic violence as a set of behaviors to gain power or control over a partner. During the panel, she explained types of domestic violence can be physical, verbal, emotional and psychological abuse and electronic stalking.
“We’re giving you the professional answer and description of what we think intimate partner violence is,” Sampson said. “But if you ask someone depending on their experience, their partner, where they come from, the part of the country they live in, they may not believe that they are experiencing what we are describing.”
Asked to discuss how they define a healthy relationship, panelist Lori K. Sudderth, a professor of criminal justice, said she has an exercise in her family violence class to have students write what they think that entails.
“What (students) give me back is overwhelmingly communication and respect,” Sudderth said.
Sampson said that love bombing and weaponizing past information shared with a partner in order to gain control are warning signs of IPV. A partner may suggest controlling finances or pressure their partner to stay in with them rather than going out with friends.
“In terms of warning signs for intimate partner violence, I would say when the relationship is just moving extremely fast,” Sampson said. “They’re too good to be true. It’s all consuming, they’re everything to you. They’re your best friend. They want to be your therapist. They want to hear all your hurt, your pain, they want to be everything to you in a three-day time frame.”
Hines explained that college students are at a higher risk for IPV because they are in a transitional time in their lives. Students may not know the warning signs or the resources to get help, which Hines said is why it is important to have brochures, social media, websites and advertising on therapeutic services for victims and how to know if you are a victim.
“I think it helps address misconceptions and make the quality of life for victims better, because I feel that domestic violence and intimate partner violence is a lifelong thing that you struggle with, even after you’re out of the relationship,” Hines said.
Sampson encouraged victims to talk about IPV with people they trust to break the cycle of silence and shame.
“We have to have an open conversation, the more we’re secretive about it, the more we protect the offenders and they are not accountable,” Sampson said.
Nancy Worthington, a professor of and chair of the media studies program, said the media can be a place to have support and positive messages, but it can also be harmful by only portraying a victim that is perfect all the time and never has a drink or gets into an argument with their partner.
“I think it’s really important to think about where we learn what we think of as normal,” Worthington said. “For that reason, I would say that any aspect of the media is a double-edged sword.”
Social media using tools such as hashtags can also help victims have their voices heard to a wider audience, Worthington explained. She wants the media to have more positive information for and about victims of IPV.
“So I’m always looking for ways where we can shift, what can we do that will make things better,” Worthington said.
Worthington said she liked the questions that were given to the panelists and how engaged the audience was. She also added she joined the panel to contribute to the social media side of the information about intimate partner violence, which differs from the other panelists.
“That’s the first time that I met them, and I was really excited when I saw what the lineup was in terms of the disciplines,” Worthington said.
One of the points Worthington said she thought was significant was when Sampson brought up during the discussion that before a victim tells families and friends about an abusive partner to think about how that person will react. If you know that person will go after your abusive partner and you aren’t ready to leave, it may not be safe for you yet to tell them.
“I just felt like there was a lot of good discussion about the fact that there are resources available and that there are a lot of different ways especially to make students aware of that,” Worthington said.
Meg Momoca Yoshida, a junior political science major, heard about the event from Philipczak announcing it in the class they have together and was interested. She learned from the panel how complex it is to deal with violence in an intimate partner relationship because it varies with each person, some people may not have supportive people in their life and may not want to leave the relationship which can be harder to help the situation.
“An event like this is important because though there are many people who are aware of what assault or violence is, they are not aware of what it can look like within an intimate relationship and thus they do not know how to identify it or what to do when it happens,” Yoshida said in a statement to The Chronicle.
Having a conversation like the panel shares information and helps victims get the resources they need, said Sudderth.
“I think it’s important because we typically don’t talk about it,” Sudderth said. “It’s one of the problems in responding to violence against women is the silence around it and some of that is because it’s a normal way to deal with trauma is to not talk about it or to deny that it happened to try to just move on with your life. I think however, the more we talk about it, the less normative it becomes.”
Sudderth acknowledged how after listening to Hines and Philipczak speak during the panel, how underutilized students are in confronting IPV. Sudderth said how teaching a sexual violence victim advocacy class allows students to talk to each other which is essential in increasing the number of advocates on campus.
“I would just like to honor the courage of the survivors advocacy group for putting on the panel and for their very direct and very caring way they brought it about and conducted themselves and made it such a warm and inviting event,” Sudderth said. “I think they did an excellent job.”
