FORT WORTH- Across the Texas Christian University campus Monday, some stark messages blared from bright red signs: “What is love?” “Are you dating someone who controls you?” “Are you dating someone who isolates you?”
The attention-getting posters aim to make students aware of the signs of relationship abuse and how to get help.
“It’s a very important issue among people my age,” said Heather Tansill, 21, a TCU senior from Seattle who is helping with the awareness campaign. “Relationship violence begins with emotional and environmental problems and not physical abuse. If you know the signs, you can get out of it before it becomes a problem.”
The TCU project is part of the three-year, $2 million statewide “Red Flags” awareness campaign implemented by the Texas Council on Family Violence and funded by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
“We understand that relationship abuse is a critical issue for young adults, and violence crosses racial, social and economic lines,” said Rebecca Farrow, vice president of community services for SafeHaven of Tarrant County, which helped in the project at TCU. “It’s a critical message, because while many people recognize the signs of abuse in a black eye or broken bones, they think that anything less isn’t violence.”
Since the “Red Flags” campaign started last year, several high schools and colleges have put up posters and distributed materials.
This week, project organizers at TCU are passing out goodies such as cups and pens, but students also can pick up wallet-size cards with information about warning signs and emergency numbers.
Also, officials from SafeHaven, which has two women’s shelters, will speak to sororities and fraternities.
Some students who saw the signs Monday said they had been in relationships that could have led to violence or knew people in such situations. They said they may use the campaign to talk to their friends but that people in abusive relationships have to decide for themselves to leave.