UA Women’s Resource Center will Hold Candlelight Vigil to Increase Awareness of Domestic Violence

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama students, faculty and staff will gather at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at Denny Chimes to light candles and pledge to work toward ending domestic violence.

The UA Women’s Resource Center and Students for Gender Justice are sponsoring the candlelight vigil as part of October’s Domestic Violence Awareness activities.

“If we take responsibility and action, we can bring about change,” Elle Shaaban, the campus violence project program coordinator, said.

Vigil participants will remember victims and survivors of domestic violence.

“The vigil creates a space where we restore the humanity of the victims of domestic violence,” said Enrique Gomez, a member of Men Against Violence and Students for Gender Justice. Gomez believes more men should speak up and confront other men who abuse their girlfriends or wives.

“We cannot bring back the lives that have been destroyed, but we can bear witness to the tragedies and remember that these were people just like ourselves,” he said. “This is also the space where men and women together can create a new ethical consensus on the value of human beings.”

The Women’s Resource Center will have powerful visual displays of domestic violence during the vigil: the Clothes Line Project, T-shirts honoring victims, and the Silent Wives Project, silhouettes honoring homicide victims of domestic violence.

The WRC will also sponsor Voice Against Violence, an open-microphone night at Starbucks on Oct. 30. The event will explore violence in the lives of women.

The WRC provides a variety of services and programs to aid victims and their families. Throughout October, students, faculty and staff will display purple ribbons to increase campus awareness of domestic violence.

For more information, contact the UA Women’s Resource Center at 205/348-5040.