AVRIL KING
Social Media Manager and Assistant Sports Editor
For the second year in a row, Fredonia will be participating in an awareness walk for domestic violence. “Around the World for Yeardley” is an event recognized by all SUNY schools, this year on Wednesday, April 18 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The walk, which is taking place around Dods and Steele Hall, has been organized by Fredonia’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), most notably SAAC President Ben Chatley and SAAC member Sierra Parsons.
The initiative was created in memory of Yeardley Love, a lacrosse player from the University of Virginia. On May 3, 2010, just three weeks before her graduation, Love was beaten and killed by her ex-boyfriend.
After her death, Love’s mother and sister created the One Love Foundation as a way to prevent such tragedies from occurring on other college campuses. As Sharon Love, Yeardley Love’s mother, said in her testimonial on the One Love Foundation website, “… relationship abuse is a public health epidemic and … young women in Yeardley’s age group are at a three times greater risk for being in an abusive relationship than any other demographic.”
In December of 2014, three athletes from the women’s lacrosse teams from Boston College and University of Virginia came together to create Yards for Yeardley, which is where this year’s event stems from.
“It’s basically a way for us to improve and increase domestic violence awareness on campus while kind of having some fun at the same time,” said Chatley, a senior double major in social studies education and history.
For his work in bringing this campaign to Fredonia, Chatley was awarded the Unsung Hero Award from the One Love Foundation in the spring of 2017. Since the event was so successful in spreading the word on domestic violence last year, it was brought back again.
With around 300 members of the campus community already signed up, it is clear that the message is being heard this year as well.
“We’re hoping to break that 300 by the time it rolls around,” said Parsons.
And the event is not just for individuals. Campus groups, such as ResLife, are invited to participate, as well as each of the sports teams.
“I think, just as athletes, it resonates with us because Yeardley Love was an athlete,” Parsons, a sophomore education major, said. “So it kind of just shows us that these bad things can happen to anyone. It’s important for our campus and our athletes to spread that awareness.”
Several of those walking are also participating in memory of those that have fallen victim to domestic violence.
This is including Chatley, who was a member of the SUNY Brockport swim team in his freshman year of college, alongside Alexandra Kogut. Kogut, who was also a freshman, was killed by her boyfriend in her dorm room in September of 2012.
“There are a lot of people that, just from hearing about domestic violence and relationship problems, know someone that’s gone through that or someone who has had to experience those tough times or adverse effects,” said Chatley. “By increasing awareness and growing everyone’s knowledge for these horrific type of events, it’s a way for us not only to remember them, but also to make sure it’s not something we ever experience.”
Registration for the event is free to all who would like to participate. The first 500 people to walk four laps around the course automatically win a free t-shirt and are entered to win several raffle items for each additional lap.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates that around 20 people are physically abused by a partner every minute in the United States. Around the World for Yeardley
and the One Love Foundation exist to put an end to this reality. By showing its support, the Fredonia community can as well.