The OU Women’s Outreach Center is participating in a national campaign this week to inform students about possible signs of dating violence.
The Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance created the Red Flag Campaign to encourage people to look for “red flags” in their relationships — warnings signs of things that should catch students’ eyes. This is OU’s second year to participate.
According to the campaign’s national Web site, approximately one in five college relationships involve some form of dating violence.
“We want to let college students know that they especially are at risk,” said Jennifer Cox, administrative assistant for the outreach center. “Women are disproportionately affected but [awareness] is important for both [sexes].”
Some “red flags” students should look for that might suggest an abusive relationship include emotional abuse, extreme jealousy, isolation, coercion, stalking and sexual assault, Cox said.
“We are centering around the idea of Valentine’s Day with our theme this year,” Cox said. “A lot of people are in relationships around that time of year and we want them to be careful and look for the red flags in their relationships.”
To publicize the campaign, the center lined the South Oval with red lawn flags last week that had statistics and facts about dating violence printed on them.
Cox said the flags really stood out on last week’s white snow, and she saw a lot of people bending down to read them.
The center also is setting up a table this week in the main lobby of the Oklahoma Memorial Union to better reach students, Cox said. The table will have candy and pamphlets of information about the campaign and dating violence. This is the center’s first time to “table” for the event.
The group is putting posters in main campus buildings as well.
The event is still young at OU, but it is more established at the University of Virginia, with activities ranging from a red T-shirt day to running a red banner across the football field before games, according to its Web site. The campaign originally was designed for Virginia college campuses but later became nationwide.
Cox said the Women’s Outreach Center wants to continue its campaign in future years and keep spreading the message about the warning signs of dating violence.
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sooner12 2 years, 3 months ago
Honestly, I don't remember seeing "red lawn flags" on the South Oval.