One dozen Washington-area schools have ramped up efforts to curb dating violence this fall, in response to the beating death of University of Virginia senior Yeardley Love. The University of Virginia took the lead in Charlottesville with a new group called the Get Grounded Coalition, which is training the school’s largest student-run organizations to counter “bystander behavior” ?– a term coalition member Will Bane says is a tendency to remain passive in dangerous situations, including alcohol abuse and domestic violence.
Students also created the White Ribbon Campaign, which works to raise awareness of male violence against women.
“Students are paying a lot more attention to dating violence,” said Frances Carey, a student member of the university’s White Ribbon Campaign. She said Love’s murder and a string of sexual assaults on campus earlier this year have prompted students to become much more cautious.
A rally against dating violence at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County last month drew more than 150 students after the school received a $25,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to help expand violence-prevention programs.
And the deans of community prep schools convened this fall to design an appropriate response on their campuses. Love attended Baltimore’s Notre Dame Preparatory School and Huguely attended Bethesda’s Landon School. Both students graduated in 2006 before enrolling at the University of Virginia.
Georgetown Visitation’s freshmen and sophomores are now required to participate in group counseling sessions. Love’s reportedly tumultuous relationship with Huguely was a focus of those sessions this fall.
In the aftermath of Love’s death, friends of Love and Huguely came forward with stories of abuse and violence dating to the beginning of their roughly two-year relationship.
Notre Dame Prep also helped start the One Love Foundation, a charity that encourages community service projects. –
Hayley Peterson
