March 19, 2008

As a part of Women’s History Month, two displays will be set up on campus to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The Women in America lecture with Angela Shelton will feature “Silent Witnesses,” on loan from the Family Violence Center. The witnesses are figurines that feature stories from Iowa women who have died from domestic violence. The figurines will also be displayed on campus throughout the month.

The Clothesline Project will also be on campus in March. It was designed to be a tribute to victims and survivors of any form of violence against women. The goal is to raise awareness of the prevalence of violence against women.

Clotheslines will be hung around campus March 24 through March 30, featuring T-shirts designed by students, faculty and staff who have been affected by violence. There will be many opportunities throughout the month to design new shirts.

Student Josie Rundlett first brought The Clothesline Project to Simpson last year and had success with the project. She hopes to involve more people this year.

“The Clothesline Project is a demonstration to end violence against women,” she said. “It, literally, is a bunch of T-shirts that have different anti-violence against women messages. These T-shirts are then hung on a clothesline in public, to air dirty laundry, and to make conversations begin to happen.”