On October 19th, women from the District 2 branches of AAUW gathered at Hobart and William Smith College to discuss the issue of violence against women on college campuses.

Keynote speaker Dr. Catherine Cerulli, director of the Susan B Anthony Center at the University of Rochester, opened the conference with her discussion focusing on the domestic violence issue. Through her research experience and work in the Monroe County District Attorney’s office, Dr. Cerulli presented on the issues in addressing domestic violence issues within the community: the prominence in our societal culture, the psychological boundaries in treating victims and prevention, and the resources that would be most beneficial to decrease rates and occurrences of domestic violence.

Also presenting at the conference were Dr. Hannah Dickinson, Dr. Barbara LeSavoy, and Angela Clark-Taylor. Dr. Dickinson, a Professor of Writing at Hobart and William Smith shared her findings on student’s perception of violence through analysis of her students’ papers discussing a violent experience. In addition Dr. Barbara LeSavoy and Angela Clark-Taylor shared their experiences with One Billion Rising and V-Day. Based on the Vagina Monologues, on February 14th there is an international demonstration to draw attention to violence against women across the world. The conference also featured a student panel of six university women who responded to the information presented by the speakers at the event. Laura Alexander (Hobart and William Smith), Kelsey Carroll (Hobart and William Smith), Annette Eko (RIT), Alexis Harris (RIT), Robin Graziano (University of Rochester), and Lucienne Nicholson (SUNY Brockport) gathered to share their unique stories from their respective campuses while also commenting on universal issues facing current university women on campus.

The Rochester Branch hopes to continue the discussion on this pressing issue facing university women. We plan, on November 23rd, to host a follow-up event with students from various colleges to discuss how the students can collaborate with AAUW to address this issue across campuses.

Robin Graziano
GRAB AAUW intern