Ellie Sherry — Reporter
The color red has many significant meanings, but, in the month of October – National Domestic Violence Awareness Month – it means to stop and think about red flags in relationships. All over campus there will be red flags posted with the intent for students to reflect about what they conside to be red flags that need to be addressed in their relationships.
According to Psychology Today, “Red flags are indicators that something needs to be questioned or otherwise validated. Often, these are clues that something may be trouble in the future.”
The Violence Protection Victim Advocacy and Support group at the university is a resource to help people who are going through or have been in traumatic relationships and for people who want to help those involved in abusive relationships.
“Red flag campaign is important, because people normalize red flags anyways,” said social work major Candace Wright, a senior who works for VPAS, “and we have a society that goes and normalizes that, even if the rest of the world doesn’t take that same approach, and I think that’s where we clash.”
VPAS was trying to raise awareness with several tabling events in dorms and other places around campus. At these events, students were prompted to write one thing they think constitutes as a relationship red flag on an actual red flag. They were then posted all over campus.
Social work major Ariana Lopez, a freshman, said she wrote, “You can’t do that without me,” as a red flag. She said people in relationships seem to get trapped into thinking they have to do everything with their significant other.
“They think that they can’t go out and enjoy themselves and have their own life without the other person,” Lopez said. “I think it is important for people to realize you can be in a healthy relationship with someone and still live your own life.”
Communication major Alexsia Nazario, a sophomore, said jealousy was a normal trait to have in a relationship. The problem, she said lied with how significant others acted upon that jealousy, such as asking for one another’s passwords and making them feel as if they were untrustworthy and inadequate.
“I know your freshman and sophomore years is when you make a lot of friends and start relationships in college,” said Nazario, “so we want to make sure if you’re in a relationship, you’re doing it happily and healthily.”
Photo credit: Ellie Sherry
