February is Dating Violence Awareness Month, and Oswego State is advocating for awareness.

The “It’s On Oz” campaign has been sponsoring events all year to help educate students about the dangers and signs of dating violence. Since partnering with the One Love Foundation, an organization that focuses on helping people understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, in 2015, It’s On Oz has hosted 40 escalation workshops, six “Stick it to Love” programs, two Yards for Yeardley campus challenges and numerous other programs in conjunction with the One Love Foundation.

According to Lisa Evaneski, Oswego State’s Title IX coordinator, there has been an increase in the number of students who come to her to ask for help in relation to dating violence. According to the Clery Report, reported on-campus student housing dating violence went from one report in 2014 to five reports in 2015 and 2016.

“We definitely have seen an uptick in how many people come to us for advice for this type of thing,” Evaneski said. “We get third-party reports where people are looking for ways to talk to a friend about this. I think with the more outreach and education we do, the more were going to see that kind of reporting.”

Oswego State University Police Chief John Rossi also credits the increasing number of dating violence reports to the education Evaneski and Title IX give to students.

“With the education the lifestyle programs do, that Title IX does, I think our students are very, very well educated in how to have a proper relationship and get the most out of it,” Rossi said. “I think it is a problem in society, and I just think that the education that we do makes that issue a lot less frequent that we have to deal with because of the education that goes on, so I see correlation to the work of Title IX, Lifestyles, and our counseling center.”

Education is really the goal for the Title IX office.

“We are not only honoring awareness months; we program year round. Orientation to graduation is our motto.  We want to make sure that we are offering all of our students and employees the opportunity to learn more about all of these topics year round,” Evaneski said.

On campus, students can meet with Evaneski and reach out to It’s On Oz with any Title IX related issues, but they can also reach out to Services to Aid Families, or SAF, a program that provides free and confidential services to anyone affected by crimes such as domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.

One main point organizations like SAF and It’s On Oz are trying to convey to students is that dating violence is possible in any relationship.

“It’s important to show that it can happen to anyone, and statistics show that 1 in 3 people will experience dating violence at some point, in some way, so it holds offenders accountable and will hopefully create an environment so the community can respond and support individuals in a good, positive way,” Chelsea Spier of SAF said. “I hope more students will be able to recognize the signs of unhealthy behaviors and become more active bystanders if they see this happening with the people around them. The goal is really to increase awareness of how to help and the resources that are available if you need help.”

By having these presentations and conversations on campus, students can come together and make Oswego State a safer community.

“Some people might not know boundaries. They might not realize the behaviors that they’re doing can be considered alarming to the other person,” Rossi said.

From 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 21, It’s On Oz held an Escalation Workshop in Marano Campus Center Room 133. The goal of the program was to educate students on signs of dating violence in case they or anybody they know ever find themselves in an abusive situation.

“Teaching early warning signs are really a best practice,” Evaneski said. “We can work with students and employees to review safety plans, talk with friends, discuss ways to help a friend who might be in an abusive relationship and strategize with them to get their friend help.”

If students would like to report any instances of dating violence, they can contact Lisa Evaneski at lisa.evaneski@oswego.edu or at 315-312-5604, which has a private voicemail. They can contact the Title IX Office at titleix@oswego.edu or meet with Chelsea Spier from 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m., Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday in Mary Walker room 125. Another option would be to call the 24-hour hotline at 315-342-1600.

With an increasing number of workshops and resources on campus, the hope is that students will gain the knowledge of what to do if they should ever come across dating violence in their own lives or in their friends’ lives.

“They just may not know what to do when they see the signs, and that’s why the resources exist, so that we can increase awareness about what the signs are and what to do,” Spier said.

Photo: Taylor Woods | The Oswegonian