Hawkins Hall to be Illuminated for 'Shine the Light on Domestic Violence' Week

October 12, 2016

SUNY Plattsburgh will participate in the “Shine the Light on Domestic Violence” campaign the week of Oct. 17 by illuminating Hawkins Hall in purple, the color of domestic violence awareness.

In addition, faculty and staff are encouraged to wear purple Thursday, Oct 20. A group photo will be taken at Hawkins Pond at noon that day to show the college’s support of the campaign.

The “Shine the Light” project is part of the larger Domestic Violence Awareness Month commemoration. In addition to the week of illumination at Hawkins, the college is working with the One Love Foundation, which will bring its escalation workshop to campus to shine a light on dating violence. The workshop will be held Thursday, Oct. 13 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Room 202, Yokum Lecture Hall.

Campus and community members can visit the Clothesline Project, on display through Oct. 31 on the second floor of the Angell College Center. Started in 1990 in Cape Cod, Mass., the Clothesline Project addresses the issue of violence against women. Those affected by violence express their emotions and experiences by decorating a T-shirt. The shirts are hung on a clothesline to be viewed as testimony to the plague of domestic violence, according to Butterfly Blaise Boire, Title IX coordinator at SUNY Plattsburgh.

And the “Last to Say: Paint and Poetry Event,” an artistic journey through domestic violence, will be held at the Nina Winkel Sculpture Court, Myers Fine Arts Building, Friday, Oct. 28 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Blaise said that the program is designed to discover — through paint and poetry — the red flags, the cycle of abuse, the trauma, the revival, and the support and solidarity all connected to domestic violence.

For more information on “Shine the Light” campaign or any of the events being held as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, contact Blaise at 518-564-3281 or [email protected].