Stevens Shattering the Silence, one of the campus’ newest organizations, hosted an event titled “Stevens Fights Back” this past Thursday in Hayden Lounge. The overall goal of the event was to teach students the ins and outs of how to keep safe, avoid unwanted situations, and learn how to get out of life-threatening situations.
After a small introduction from S3 president Sarah Halliday, Luis Garcia, senior mechanical engineering student, took the floor to begin his presentation. He has made it a project to educate friends, family, and peers about the different types of violence and how it is common occurrence. The seminar marks the beginning of the project and Garcia hopes that it will extend to educate different organizations, sports teams and Greek chapters on campus. “I want this information to be as easy to understand as possible,” Garcia said. “High-risk, low-risk, it doesn’t matter. Violence is violence.”
Garcia engaged the audience by asking what types of violence exist. Audience members shouted out “domestic violence,” “physical violence,” and hesitantly called out “rape” and “child abuse.” Garcia described the types of violence that range between society, community, and relationships and also explained the myths surrounding sexual assault. “‘It’s okay, we’re in a relationship,’ or ‘we’re both drunk’ aren’t excuses,” Garcia said. “These statements promote violence.”
Garcia introduced the audience Richard Lopez, a 4th Degree Chief Instructor of Tae Kwon Do for schools in Caldwell and Livingston, NJ. He and Garcia lead EMPOWERMENT workshops, which provide participants with tools and techniques to feel comfortable in taking measurable risk. Together, Garcia and Lopez brought over 30 years of experience, and were eager to lead the seminar. Lopez demonstrated various life-threatening situations, such as an attacker grabbing a victim’s arm or neck. The most important lesson that Lopez stressed was the fact that all material objects can be replaced. “If they want your wallet, give it to them. Wrap it in a blue bow. Your life is worth more than your wallet.”
After Lopez demonstrated specific defense tactics, students were able to practice the same defense methods on each other. The exercise was engaging and informative. Lopez went over the different areas of the body that are good places to target when an attacker strikes, such as the groin, knees, and face.
Stevens Shattering the Silence hosted the Self Defense Seminar as a way to start the conversation regarding the societal issue of violence. Halliday discussed how S3 came to be an organization on campus: “Stevens Shattering the Silence started as an idea to hold a Take Back the Night march, which has been taking place on college campuses all across the nation since the 1970s. It was later turned into a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring awareness to, and ultimately end all forms of sexual violence. So, out of that, this group of really awesome people who want to make a difference formed.”
The goal of Stevens Shattering the Silence is to raise awareness to and provide educational programs for relationship violence and sexual assault. As a committee composed of Stevens students, staff, faculty and alumni, S3 is prepared for the group to become well-established. “I would like S3 to be a well-known group, and to have more events. I think having an inclusive and social aware campus is extremely important, especially for people who feel they have nowhere to turn,” Halliday said.
Stevens Shattering the Silence plans to take part in Hoboken’s first Take Back the Night March, which will be on April 21. “A lot of energy has gone into planning the event as well as the self-defense workshop,” Halliday said. “We are here to serve our community and our peers, so if there is something people want to see more of on campus, we are more than happy to oblige.”
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