Take Back the Night: bringing awareness to gendered violence: News Items & Legislative Updates

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March 17, 2016: Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee calling for more funding to address sexual assault on college campuses. In the letter, they requested at least $137.7 million in 2017 for the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. 

Image Excerpt Courtesy ThinkProgress

• October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month - The Terre Haute Council on Domestic Abuse is hosting two events to honor the memory of domestic violence victims.
• Monday October 7, 2013 - 10:30: a proclamation banner will be unfurled in the Vigo County Courthouse rotunda, suspended from the 3d floor
  
• Monday October 7, 6:30pm: annual candlelight vigil on the steps of Terre Haute City Hall, designed to remember those who have been affected by domestic violence (rain? move to city hall courtroom)
  
• Cheryl White, president of the CODA board, reports the following 2012 statistics:
  
• Emergency shelter for 130 adults and 126 children, totalling 3,696 nights - 3% increase from 2011
  
• >3,000 meals served
  
• Legal advocacy services for 1,197 victime
  
• 253 protective orders
  
• 177 safety plans
  
• 312 phone calls from victims vis the 24-hour crisis phone line
  
• Prevent education programs reached 1,682 Vigo County Students
  
• 26 community education sessions
  
• Interns logged 2,295 volunteer hours
  
• CODA has served Vigo, Clay, Parke, Sullivan and Vermission counties since 1985
  
• [source of information: TribStar article, October 1, 2013]
  

March 7, 2013

Photo courtesy Ms Foundation Facebook link

From 2013 State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama, February 12: We know our economy is stronger when our wives, our mothers, our daughters can live their lives free from discrimination in the workplace, and free from the fear of domestic violence. Today, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act that Joe Biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago. And I now urge the House to do the same. Good job, Joe. And I ask this Congress to declare that women should earn a living equal to their efforts, and finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year.

Obama signs expanded Violence Against Women Act - Video downloaded from WTHR.com Channel 13.

Ohio University's marching band, at the request of administrators, dropped the controversial hit song "Blurred Lines" (which critics argue glorifies rape) from its halftime show, The Columbus Dispatch reported. While several British university pubs have barred playing the song, it has been featured in several halftime shows by university bands in the United States this football season. Richard Suk, director of the band, said he didn't object to the administrators' request but was concerned about "where do we draw the line in the future?"

The Post, the student newspaper at Ohio, has run opinion pieces criticizing the original decision to play "Blurred Lines," but the newspaper's editorial board took a different stand this time. "[W]hile we believe the [marching band] should not have chosen to perform the song, we also believe the administration should not have stepped in. The university should not censor the music on campus; we students are adults now, and can form opinions for ourselves," the editorial said.

Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/09/30/ohio-u-cuts-blurred-lines-halftime-show#ixzz2gODxk7WP

additional links - Letters to "The Post":

• I know you want to, but don’t play ‘Blurred Lines’ (September 19)

  Vulgarity isn’t the only problem with summer hit single (September 25)

  'Blurred Lines' not how Bobcats should unite (September 26)

• Debate over song distracts from campus ‘rape culture’ (September 27)

• ‘Blurred Lines’ debate should focus on the real issue (October 2)

Rep. Gwen Moore Recounts Own Rape and Sexual Assault. May 18, 2012.