White ribbons to mark Love tragedy

University of Virginia graduates, families and faculty members will wear some 25,000 white ribbons at this weekend’s commencement ceremony as a sign of their pledge to reject violence.
The student-led campaign comes two weeks after a 22-year-old fourth-year, Yeardley Love, was found dead in her apartment. Her ex-boyfriend, also a UVa student, has been charged in her death.
“After the tragic death of Yeardley Love, we wanted to use the platform of graduation to unify the community and raise awareness,” said Caitlin

Donaghy, one of the campaign’s organizers and a graduating UVa student majoring in studies in women and gender.
UVa’s graduation will be held on the Lawn on Sunday. UVa President John T. Casteen III will deliver the commencement address, his final public speech to the university as president before he retires this summer.
The white ribbons, Donaghy said, aim to raise awareness about domestic abuse and violence. It was inspired by a similar international campaign against violence toward women.

UVa’s white ribbons, Donaghy said, will not only memorialize Love, but also slain 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, whose body was found in Albemarle County roughly three months after she disappeared from a rock concert last October in Charlottesville.
“There have just been one too many events like this,” she said. “We had to do something.”
The white ribbon campaign at UVa came about after a group of 30 concerned students, faculty and community members gathered last week to come up with a response to Love’s death.
The ribbons are being paid for by $2,000 from a pool of private funds in the Office of Student Affairs that finances student-led initiatives, a UVa spokeswoman said.
Along with wearing the white ribbons on their gowns at graduation, they decided, the organizers would encourage supporters to take action in other ways, such as donating money to UVa’s Women’s Center, which provides help for students who are victims of sexual and domestic violence.
Donaghy added that she would like to see UVa require education programs to new and existing students to teach them about the warning signs of domestic abuse and who they can notify if they notice it occurring.
“Students need to be taught how to recognize the red flags,” she said. “Be aware of the signs to look out for and equip them with the tools they need.”

Claire Kaplan, director of sexual and domestic violence services at UVa’s Women’s Center, said cases of domestic violence on college campuses are far more prevalent than many might think.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, she noted, one out of every four relationships is violent.
The 16 to 24 age group, she said, is especially vulnerable. Many cases, she added, go unreported because the victim is afraid of retaliation, because the victim blames herself or because they want to stay in their relationship despite the problems.

UVa, Kaplan said, ought to do more to emphasize the problem of partner violence during new-student orientation and throughout a student’s time at the university.
“There needs to be a shift,” she said. “Students need to know what [partner violence] is so they know what to report. They need to be able to know: Am I in an abusive relationship? Should I be worried? Who can I talk to? What resources are available?”