The Clark University student anti-violence organization TOPICS (Training, Outreach, Prevention, Intervention, Counseling, and Support) has been chosen by Jane Doe, Inc. – the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence –to host the official 2011 Regional White Ribbon Day Evening Observance from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in Tilton Hall at the Higgins University Center, 950 Main St.
The family-friendly event is free and open to all who are interested in ending sexual assault, domestic violence and dating violence. Honorary event chair Clark University President David Angel will make the welcoming remarks, followed by comments from TOPICS members, co-hosts Rape Crisis Center of Central MA and Males Advocating Change, and other allies of the White Ribbon campaign. There will be music, entertainment, and refreshments.
“These students offer peer-to-peer support, helping students have healthy relationships.” ~ David Roth, TOPICS adviser
The Massachusetts White Ribbon Day is connected with an international White Ribbon Campaign (WRC), which was created by a handful of Canadian men in 1991 on the second anniversary of a male killer’s massacre of 14 women in Montreal. The WRC group formed to urge men to speak out against violence against women. Today, the WRC is a worldwide campaign in over 55 countries that has collected well over 5 million signatures.
At Clark, TOPICS is a student led, co-ed group offering peer training, outreach, prevention, intervention, counseling and support on campus and beyond.
“These students offer peer-to-peer support, helping students have healthy relationships,” said TOPICS adviser David M. Roth, founder of 4 The Cause Marketing & Consulting, Clark Class of 1984 alumnus and parent of a Clark student. “They provide access for male and female students to talk about what they may not always want to talk about.”
President Angel and his wife, Jocelyne Bauduy, are the honorary co-chairs of the White Ribbon event at Clark. Other sponsors include: the Rape Crisis Center of Central Massachusetts; Males Advocating Change; 4 The Cause Marketing & Consulting (sponsor of Martha’s Cause: A Woman of Valor Initiative to End Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence); All Points Limousine; The Total You Heart & Beauty Salon; Robin Connors of Robin Connors Angels; and the Clark Anti-Violence Education Program (CAVE).
As part of the All Points “White Limos to White Ribbon” support, company owner and President Becky Laramee dispatched a stretch limo to Clark’s front gates on Jan. 19 for a photo opportunity preceding a kickoff meeting to discuss plans for the upcoming events in Boston and at Clark. Two All Points limos will carry the TOPICS students to the official State House event in Boston on the morning of March 3rd, along with 2011 White Ribbon Day co-chairs former U.S. Rep. William Delahunt and Michael Weekes, President/CEO of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, Inc., and honorary chair of the 2011 White Ribbon Day Campaign. All Points provides all of its drivers with Special Passenger Protection Training, Laramee said.
Clark TOPICS student members include: co-directors Alexa Chu ’12, Julia Kelley-Vail ’12, Heather Mooney ’11, Dani Dimitrova ’13, Claire Hunt ’12, and Julia Richardson ’13; Kristin Jones ’11, Rachael Claborn ’11, Shaun Provost ’11, Arianna Enos ’13, Anna Stusser ’13, and Calvin Choi ’12. For more information about the White Ribbon events, contact TOPICS student directors at Topics@clarku.edu or TOPICS adviser David M. Roth, at 978-340-0486 or David.Roth@alumni.clarku.edu.