At freshman orientation this year, University of Idaho Violence Prevention Coordinator Virginia Solan said she watched in awe as several incoming students stood up in Memorial Gym to affirm they’ve been affected by suicide in their lifetime.
“It was surreal,” Solan said. “It made everyone in the room lookaround at each other and realize that these kinds of things can happen to anyone. People think ‘oh, it won’t happen to me,’ but it can, and we have programs like Safety Week to raise awareness of that.”
The third-annual Campus Safety Week commences Monday with a weeklong series of workshops, events, forums and discussions that aim to engage students in an all-encompassing conversation about campus safety.
UI President Chuck Staben said he encourages all students to attend safety week activities and learn about the university’s safety resources.
“Campus Safety Week sets an important tone at the university, reminding students that they are all part of making our community safe and healthy for everyone,” Staben said.
Solan said Campus Safety Week stems from a tragedy that occurred in 2011 when a former UI professor murdered a UI graduate student, Katy Benoit, after the relationship between the two became dangerous.
Since 2011, the university has honored her memory by establishing Campus Safety Week that includes the Katy Benoit Safety Forum — a keynote presentation that aims to encourage students to take care of each other.
“You can never turn what happened to her into a positive,” Solan said. “But since then we’ve asked how can we work on this campus as hard as we can to make sure that no one ever experiences that again.”
Solan said Safety Week covers a wide array of topics that include the kinds of victimizations Benoit experienced before her death — such as stalking, dating violence, sexual assault and gun violence.
This year includes events ranging from Take Back the Night to a “guns on campus” forum, to a 7-hour Green Dot Bystander Intervention training. Smaller events include a book club reading, alcohol screenings and various safety discussions with experts.
Solan said while Safety Week is geared toward first- year students, everyone should attend the workshops and events because it fosters an environment of “Vandals taking care of Vandals.”
“I think it’s really important that Safety Week is making a statement the first few weeks of school that we’re not afraid of the tough issues here and people care,” she said.
A new element of this year’s Safety Week utilizes the TLC Speak Out Wall. Solan said the interactive nature of the wall is a positive method of communication and out- reach and will be used by her office to further engage students in Safety Week.
“We are putting out cards — very cool ones from old vintage stores and from book jackets — for people to write or draw or whatever on in regard to power-based violence and post them with a clothes pin on twine we’ll have strung up,” she said.
The Dean of Students Office mostly sponsors Safety Week, but Solan said this year has been more of a collaborative effort among various UI departments and organizations. For instance the total cost of Dr. Keith Edwards’ presence — who’s presenting at the Katy Benoit Safety Forum — is $7,000. While the DOS is paying $5,000, the Athletic Depart- ment is using NCAA funds to fund the other $2,000.
Additionally, there has been sponsorship from ASUI, the Women’s Center, Alternatives to Violence on the Palouse, ROTC, among others.
Solan said she understands the college experience isn’t always easy. She said Campus Safety Week exemplifies the university’s effort to keep students safe.
“Relationships are complicated, violence is complicated, people are complicated,” Solan said. “The most important thing is that people not be isolated, that they not feel judged, that they not feel alone and they know that on this campus there are people to talk to.”
Amber Emery can be reached at [email protected]