Top College News Subscribe to the Newsletter

Panhellenic Council holds forum on domestic violence awareness

Contributing Writer

Published: Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Updated: Thursday, October 28, 2010 15:10

As National Domestic Violence Awareness Month comes to an end, some students found solace in talking about their past experiences.

The National Panhellenic Council, in conjunction with UCF Victim Services, held a forum on the dangers of domestic violence Tuesday in the Student Union's Cape Florida Ballroom. 

"It's an unspoken truth that affects our communities, especially the black community," Sherrick Washington, of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, said.  "It's something that no one wants to talk about, and domestic violence has been something we have just come to accept for a long time."

For many in the audience, the forum was a chance to stand against the abuse and discuss experiences.  One female student explained how easy it is for women to overlook, excuse or even deny that they are being abused.  Having seen her mother go through domestic violence, she explained how her mother kept making excuses for her spouse's behavior. 

Other students talked about the importance of having respect for your partner and being mentally strong if one embarks on a serious relationship. Experts agree.

"One of the leading causes of domestic violence is unhealthy relationships," Tiffany Shiffner, a UCF psychologist whose special interests include relationship difficulties, said

"When one partner has no sense of individuality and is constantly being threatened or belittled, this can cause insecurities and ultimately domestic violence," Shiffner said.

While there aren't specific statistics available on UCF domestic violence cases, the UCF Counseling Center is seeing "a fair amount of cases from both men and women," according to Shiffner.

Andrea Dudas, an education and outreach coordinator for the UCF Recreation and Wellness Center, is also seeing an increase in relationship issues, which she thinks can lead to domestic violence. She notes that the issues at home can directly affect the student's academics.

According to the Dating Violence Resource Center, and The National Center for Victims of Crime and the Campus Dating Violence Fact Sheet, 32 percent of students report dating violence by a previous partner, and 21 percent report violence by a current partner.  As many as 54 percent of dating violence victims remain in physically abusive relationships. 

Assistant professor Cynthia Brown has contributed to the new book, "The War Against Domestic Violence." She says anger management issues are a major problem involving domestic violence, and additionally that there is an increase of domestic violence cases against men.

Some students say that being vigilant is just one way someone can help an abuse victim. Charlotte Hewkin, a program staff member from Victim Services, agreed.

"Even if you hear loud banging from your neighbors, pots slamming, call the police," Hewkin said. "If you know anyone who needs help, offer to take them to Victim Services."

    

Recommended: Articles that may interest you

5 comments

Anonymous
Thu Nov 4 2010 13:20
Just clarify, since the title has yet to be changed, the event was hosted by the National Panhellenic Council and not the Panhellenic Council. They are two different entities. And the event addressed all kinds of abuse, not just man against woman. Good article though.
tim
Thu Oct 28 2010 20:57
I don't know why we're funding anything relating to that with taxpayer money. That's not what the government is there for. Small government, please.
Anonymous
Thu Oct 28 2010 18:52
Women's domestic violence against men is grossly under reported, while male victims are still routinely being ignored by the taxpayer funded domestic violence industry.Credible research overwhelmingly shows that the ratio of domestic violence to be least fifty/fifty between women & men. Go to Fiebert Bibliography. According to one study by researchers who work at the CDC, in seventy percent of domestic violence incidents, where the d.v. is not mutual, it's women who initiate the d. v. Go to Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting. Click on the link under the red & blue pie chart. D.v. law follows a gender feminist agenda over facts & does great harm to many innocent men & also many violent women. Go to Youtube, “Los Misandry”
Anonymous
Thu Oct 28 2010 18:44
What about the little children? They are least able to contend with to domestic violence in their families. According to the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services and DOJ statistics, more kids are killed by neglect and abuse in a year (1,760 in 2007), than all the female intimate partner homicides in a year. Mothers are the single largest group of kid killers, according to HHS and they have a rate twice that of fathers. Nowhere near the money is spent to protect kids from kid killing mothers as is spent by the domestic violence industry to protect women. A lot of innocent men are witch-hunted by the corrupt, gender feminist influenced, taxpayer funded, domestic violence industry. Involving the corrupt d.v. industry in an attempt to prevent abusive and neglectful deaths of children is a big mistake. No place better exemplifies the corruption of the taxpayer funded, domestic violence industry than "Los Misandry," at Youtube.
Anonymous
Thu Oct 28 2010 18:42
V.P. Biden recently called violence against women, "the very worst abuse." The very worst abuse is valuing one life less than another for having been born the wrong sex. Under Biden's Violence Against Women Act the wrong sex is men. Shelter and services are virtually non-existent for male victims of domestic violence so those options out of a bad relationship, that are routinely available to women, are very often not available to men. Men wind up gender profiled and often falsely accused by the taxpayer funded, d.v. industry, because of gender feminist ideology controlling the d.v. industry. Men are often battered by domestic violence, and then battered again by the taxpayer funded, domestic violence industry as shown in "Los Misandry," at Youtube.






log out