North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4
Arts & Life
01.19.2010
Amber Arnold, Arts & Life Editor
ntd.artslife@gmail.com
Violence awareness group inactive despite restart
By Katie Grivna
Senior StaifWriter
A once-thriving organiza-
tion on campus is now inac-
tive despite a recent effort to
restart the group.
The UNT chapter of Men
Against Violence was initially
started on campus by male
student athletes with the
goal of ending violence of
all kinds.
"Out of 35,000 students,
there have to be some people
who see it as a problem and
something definitely worth
their time," said Derek Kerl,
a member of the organization
and UNT graduate. "I would
hope so."
Kerl joined the TINT chapter
of the Men Against Violence
organization in early 2006
and said the group focused
on educating people about
violence and abuse on campus
and throughout the commu-
nity.
After graduating in May of
2008, Kerl said the group fell
apart when four of its active
leaders graduated.
"We all sort of moved on,"
he said.
In order to continue to
run the organization, it had
to have leaders. It is hard to
know how to instill leader-
ship, he said.
Groups such as Men Against
Violence are important for
the education of both men
and women because of the
many cases of gender-based
violence that occur in the
U.S., Kerl said.
Guys have almost lost their
humanity so having men
come together and work with
women is a way for men to
regain it, he said.
"We live in a culture that
glorifies not only masculinity
but hyper-masculine ideals,
and all you have to do is turn
on the TV and see a commer-
cial for a movie. It's every-
where," Kerl said.
When it was an active
organization, Men Against
Violence members would
present interactive presen-
tations about various topics
in sociology, women's rights
and communication classes.
The group also worked on
projects such as the Sign of
Weakness project where signs
were posted in a large area
near the University Union to
symbolize each woman killed
by her intimate male partner
with first and last name,
age, and the circumstances
surrounding her death.
"It was really interesting to
see people come by. We had
people come by and point to a
sign and say 'Hey, I know that
person,'" Kerl said.
He gives interactive presen-
tations at different schools
to raise awareness about
violence and the results are
intangible.
"Most students don't under-
stand what constitutes abuse,"
he said. "If I'm able to go talk
to a group of 40 students at 8
o'clock in the morning and
30 guys are asleep and one
person might learn some-
thing, that's what it is all
about."
Similar programs exist at
other universities, including
the University of Texas, Texas
State University and Louisiana
State University.
Hilary Harris, a 2009 UNT
graduate, said she tried to
re-start the organization in
the fall of 2008 as part of a
service work project for an
Introduction to Social Work
class.
"Everybody knows some-
body that gets abused but
nobody talks about it. I just
thought, what better way to
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Although the UNT organization of Men Against Violence is no longer active, it continues to influence the cause to end gender-based violence in the community.
get more involved and get
more active than to jump-
start an organization like
that," she said.
Lack of support, time
constraints and only a few
interested people caused the
attempt to restart the organi-
zation to fall short.
"People were interested
in the group and wanting to
know more, but nobody was
interested in trying to take
a step forward ... and I kind
of felt like my e-mails were
falling on deaf ears, nobody
was really listening," she
said.
Harris said she set up a
table at spoken word perfor-
mances at local coffee shops
hosted by the Female Majority
Leadership Alliance in order
to get the word out about the
Men Against Violence organi-
zation's mission.
She liked that Men Against
Violence drew attention to
something that people don't
talk about and said she hoped
people would realize that
women do deserve respect,
she said.
"I started to realize that it
didn't so much draw atten-
tion to women and what they
go through, it more so drew
attention to guys and their
perspective on life," Harris
said.
A lot of men were shocked
to realize how media influ-
enced their thoughts, she
said.
Violence in movies and
hip-hop music lyrics that
describe beating women
has affected people because
"nothingshocks us anymore,"
Harris said.
Part of the Men Against
Violence organization's
purpose is to bring atten-
tion to the violence in the
media.
"Of course we are there to
bring the fact up that women
are abused and battered regu-
larly, but it is also not about
the actual physical abuse, it
is about the emotional and
verbal abuse that women
endure on a pretty regular
basis just from media alone,
" she said.
At one point when the
group was an active organi-
zation, the female members
outnumbered males, Harris
said.
"It's not about men vs.
women," she said. "It's about
coming together and realizing
that this is a problem that we
need to take a stand about
because so many people deal
with it."
Harris said that someone
should restart the Men
Against Violence organization
because there aren't groups
like it and it can help a lot
of people become educated
about violence.
"At this point, it needs a
fresh, new start," she said.
For more information about
the Men Against Violence
organization, contactHarris
at hilaryharris@gmail.com
or visit www.menagainstvi-
olence.net.
Carter BloodCare visits campus,
gives North Texans gift of life5
By Jessica Paul
Staff Writer
Students who walk past
the Carter BloodCare van on
campus today will have the
chance to donate blood and
possibly save a life.
Carter BloodCare takes
blood donations from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. between the University
Union and Woo ten Hall every
week.
Bob Killam, of the biology
faculty, said for one-day drives
like this, especially at the
beginning of the semester,
the drive could get anywhere
from 20 to 35 pints.
"There are many on campus
that have donated eight, nine,
10 gallons of blood in their
lifetime," Killam said. 'It's the
one thing that doesn't cost and
cannot yet be manufactured
by technology. It truly is the
gift of life."
Students, faculty and staff
at UNT benefit from donating
because they become part of
a blood group through UNT's
partnership with Carter
BloodCare,
"If you needed to go to a
hospital and have major or
multiple transfusions, the cost
of the basic blood product, is
free because you're part of the
UNT blood group with Carter,"
Killam said.
Type O positive blood is what
is most in demand because it is
most common, Killam said. It
is also what is usually donated
the most.
The difference between
donating to Carter BloodCare
as opposed to some other
agency like Red Cross is the
blood that Carter collects stays
within the Dallas-Fort Worth
area, Killam said.
ÍI
Photo Courtesy MCT
Students will have the chance to donate bloodat9 a.m. today outside Wooten Hall.
They provide blood to most
of the hospitals within the
area as opposed to national
organizations shipping blood
to other areas of the LT.S.
"Carter's emphasis is local
and that's why we primarily
coordinate with Carter,"
Killam said.
RachelMaxcy, a hospitality
management freshman, has
donated blood twice and plans
to do so again at UNT.
"Hospitals only have a
certain amount of blood
that they can get, so if we
help restock their blood
bank, that's great," she said.
"Everything you give back,
money, community service,
is a great thing, but blood is
more personal and it's just
kind of cool to know that
you've helped someone and
given them a second chance
at life."
Last summer, Maxcy's sister
needed a blood transfusion,
and she was able to give blood
to help her.
Killam said a lot of students
from high school have gotten in
the habit of donating, and the
earlier someone starts getting
into the habit of donating, the
more likely someone will do
so throughout life.
"It's a very generous thing
to do. It doesn't cost them
anything, is in most cases
completely painless, and it's
just a wonderful thing you
can do for mankind andyour
neighbor," he said.
Certain restrictions to
donating apply, Killam said.
Those who have just had a
piercing or tattoo, blood trans-
fusion, are on medication for
certain illnesses, or have been
out of the country will not be
allowed to donate.
According to the Carter
BloodCare Web site, healthy
adults who are at least 17
years old, or 16 with parental
consent in Texas, and weigh
at least 110 pound may donate
blood every 56 days.
Every person who donates
is pre-screened to determine
eligibility.
For more information, visit
Carter BloodCare's Web site at
www.carterbloodcare.org or
call 1-800-DONATE-4.
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North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 19, 2010, newspaper, January 19, 2010; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145755/m1/4/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.