Illustration by Lexi Forman, Cartoonist.
For over 30 years, one organization on campus has provided a safe space and resources for Chapman students previously or currently impacted by interpersonal violence. To this day, their mission is to promote awareness and provide protection and supportive measures for students.
On Oct. 20, Chapman’s Creating A Rape-free Environment for Students (C.A.R.E.S.) organization screened the one-hour version of the documentary “The Hunting Ground,” an event that has become a type of tradition on campus. C.A.R.E.S. shows the documentary a few times each school year.
The week before, on Oct. 14, C.A.R.E.S. once again set up their version of the national Clothesline Project, where shirts made by current Chapman students and students from years past are displayed on clotheslines on campus to spread awareness for interpersonal violence.
One of the reasons the Clothesline Project is so important for students to see is because each T-shirt is created by a real person, C.A.R.E.S. Coordinator Dani Smith explained. Events like the Clothesline Project or the What Were You Wearing Exhibit minimize the distance students may feel between statistics and their friends, peers or families.
C.A.R.E.S. meets every Friday at noon in Argyrous Forum room 207. At every meeting, students get together to discuss plans for future events and propose new ideas to workshop with Smith.
The organization started over 30 years ago when Smith, who also serves as the director of Proactive Education Encouraging Responsibility (PEER) and Health Education, helped create the framework for PEER alongside students at the time. The organization evolved from existing lessons on drug and alcohol use to include a wider view of interpersonal violence.
For junior community educational studies major Nicole Barker, recently hired student employee for C.A.R.E.S., part of her goal is to help get more people involved with the organization through word-of-mouth, engaging events and the Instagram page.
“Sometimes people think that the C.A.R.E.S. meetings are like a support group or a meeting that gets heavy. It's not really like that,” Barker said. “We kind of check in and go, ‘How's your week going?’ to every individual person, but it's very light and it's very casual.”
Barker was introduced to C.A.R.E.S. through senior liberal studies major Rusty Henry, who had gotten to know Smith over the summer before joining C.A.R.E.S. this semester. Henry initially wanted to get more involved when he saw the Clothesline Project last year.
“I sent (Barker) pictures and was like, ‘Look at what Chapman’s doing! This is powerful,’” Henry said. “It was one of the things that early on made me want to join C.A.R.E.S. because of how powerful it is, it's a lot to take on emotionally.”
C.A.R.E.S. has many events planned for the rest of the year, including Consent At Every Base set during the World Series to educate about steps of consent, the Active Bystander event where Chapman students can be nominated to win the award for their work in preventing sexual violence, their annual Take Back The Night in the spring and much more.
Take Back The Night is an event for students who have been survivors of sexual misconduct to share their stories in a safe space.
“We open the microphone and people tell their stories. We sit there and we listen. That's what we all want, to be heard,” Smith said.
The events put on by C.A.R.E.S. are getting a lot of attention from students after the case at Cornell University involving fraternity students. In September, The Walk Against All Violence, another event put on by C.A.R.E.S., drew a large turnout, with 327 people. However, Smith emphasized the importance of not putting one group into a box when discussing the realities of sexual misconduct.
“Dr. Lisak says in ‘The Hunting Ground,’ it's not all the fraternities, it's not all the athletes, it's not all college students, I think that that's really important. I've got to tell you, sororities and fraternities support carers in the work of C.A.R.E.S.,” Smith said. “All I have to do is ask for their help, and they'll help. It's been like that for years.”
In addition with members who participate in the events or attend the weekly meetings, C.A.R.E.S. strives to work with many different organizations on campus, including different clubs, sororities and fraternities. Most recently, C.A.R.E.S. collaborated with Latina sorority Omega Psi Beta to bedazzle birdie whistles.
“C.A.R.E.S. is just very collaborative. (Smith) has made it very clear over the last couple months that our opinions are very welcome if we have ideas for events or ideas for anything really involving C.A.R.E.S.,” Barker said.
The weekly meetings are non-committal and open to any Chapman student interested in the organization, and Smith and the C.A.R.E.S. members hope to see more students get involved.
“It's a small community of people who actually care about each other,” said Henry. “And we want more people to care about.”