Corey Maher/Photo Editor
AVRIL KING
Social Media Asst.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, around 20 people are abused physically by their romantic partner in the United States every minute. That’s more than 10 million individuals every year. Yet, many people believe that it will never happen to them and do not even realize that they are in an abusive relationship until the situation becomes dangerous.
That’s why on April 7, as well as from April 24-29, SUNY Fredonia will be running events to raise awareness of domestic violence.
The first, which is titled “The Story of Alexandra Kogut,” is meant to share the life and death of a domestic violence victim who was a student of SUNY Brockport. Later in the month, Fredonia will take part in the 10 Million Yards for Yeardley initiative alongside the nine other SUNY schools. These are both in coexistence with SUNY’s Got Your Back campaign.
However, these events would not be possible without the efforts of Ben Chatley.
Chatley, a junior double major in social studies adolescence education and history, has been an active student on Fredonia’s campus since his transfer as a sophomore. He is a member of the men’s swimming and diving team, a SUNYAC champion for the 2016-2017 season, a member of Phi Alpha Theta and the president of the Fredonia Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), to name a few of his involvements.
Outside of Fredonia, Chatley is the president-elect of the SUNYAC Conference SAAC. As a cabinet alternate prior to the scheduling of the events, he was able to work with members of the committee to coordinate the details of 10 Million Yards for Yeardley.
The SUNY-wide event is held in recognition of Yeardley Love. She was a senior lacrosse player at the University of Virginia and only three weeks away from graduating before being murdered by her ex-boyfriend in May 2010. In her memory, her mother, Sharon Love, co-founded the One Love Foundation with women’s educator Katie Hood. The foundation is committed to teaching others about the signs of domestic violence in the hope that young lives can be saved.
On the foundation’s website, Love wrote, “All of the work we do at the One Love Foundation celebrates and honors the positive spirit and kindness that Yeardley personified. We are committed not only to honoring Yeardley’s memory, but also to saving others from suffering the same fate.”
“The Story of Alexandra Kogut,” though, holds a more personal meaning to Chatley.
“I was a member of the swimming and diving team at Brockport with [Kogut] and was very close with her roommate at the time that she was unfortunately killed in 2012,” he said.
As part of the campaign, Chatley worked with the One Love Foundation to organize and run workshops that were presented to over 350 student-athletes, half of the coaching staff and all of the resident directors on campus.
All of this hard work is paying off. On April 19, Chatley will travel to New York City to receive the Campus Unsung Hero Award from the One Love Foundation.
“I was really shocked when I got the phone call,” Chatley said. “I definitely knew that my work that I had been doing with the One Love Foundation was making an impact here on Fredonia’s campus.”
The 10 Million Yards for Yeardley event will feature a run/walk around Dods Hall and Steele Hall on April 26. It is free to participate but registration is required.
“The biggest key that we are hoping to achieve by having this run completed is that students and faculty are more apt to notice small signs and issues that might occur in friendships to relationships and by doing that we are able to foster a better campus community here at Fredonia and across the entirety of the state,” said Chatley.