The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith Gender and Intersectional Feminism Committee will host a public event on Domestic Violence Awareness titled "Stop Domestic Violence: A Community Response" March 12-13, 2019. The two-day event is free and open to the public, and aims to bring together a variety of stakeholders in the fight against domestic violence, including survivors, social workers, mental and physical health care workers, NGOs, faculty, college students, high school students, members of the clergy, police officers, and lawyers.

The event will take place in partnership with Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge; Brooke Axtell, founder and director of She is Rising; the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter; and the Donald W. Reynolds Crisis Intervention Center.

The March 12 portion of the program will begin at 3:30 p.m. with the first of two public forum keynote addresses by Rutledge, Axtell, and a panel of legal, social and humanities scholars, as well as advocates for violence awareness and prevention. A workshop titled Empowering Survivors: A Workshop, focused on stopping domestic violence will follow the discussion. The workshop will target practitioners and NGOs who work to curtail the problem of domestic violence in the State of Arkansas. 

The activities on March 13 will be student-centered, with a main session entitled “Colleges and the Problem of Gender-Based Violence - Health, Safety and Student Success Concerns.” A UAFS Student Government Association resolution to support efforts to ameliorate domestic violence will be presented by Luke Barber, SGA President. The second day’s events will end with a moderated lunch discussion. Lunch will be provided.

In conjunction with the event, the Northwest Arkansas Women's Shelter, in partnership with the national Silent Witness program, will place 51 red silhouettes around the UAFS campus during the week of the event to stand in honor of the 51 Arkansans killed by domestic violence in 2017.

UAFS will also host a competition and exhibition of art in all forms, including literary works, performance art, and visual art and design, featuring area high school students as well as UAFS students. The focus of the art will be on domestic violence and its impact on children, survivors and the community. Prizes totaling $1000 will be awarded to the winning artists, who may submit their artworks through March 8. 

More information on the art competition, the event and the guest speakers is available at: https://academics.uafs.edu/g-and-I-F/domestic-violence

For more information about this is event, contact Dr. Paulette Meikle at: Paulette.Meikle@uafs.edu or (479) 788-7247; Dr. JaeYoon Park at: JaeYoon.Park@uafs.edu or (479) 788-7298; or Stephanie London at: Stephanie.London@uafs.edu or (479) 788-7697.