By Kerri Linsenbigler
Features Assignment Editor
Vito Czyz, director of safety and security, has been working with student organizations to promote nonviolence during “Enough is Enough Week,” which ends today.
“My role is really education, prevention and getting people to understand we have to work together and live together in the St. Bonaventure community,” Czyz said.
“Enough is Enough” is a nationwide campaign that began after the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007.
“It’s a campaign that attempts to stem violence on college campuses,” Czyz said. “It also extends out to elementary and post-elementary schools by addressing societal violence.”
Throughout the week, clubs on campus, such as Medical Emergency Response Team, VOICES and the Psychology Club, held events to raise awareness of violence on college campuses and how to prevent it. Students had the opportunity to sign a nonviolence pledge in the Reilly Center, attend a lecture by a member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and attend a Take Back the Night presentation on domestic violence, among other activities.
“Just in the past year, there have been five incidents of violence on college campuses,” Czyz said. “The most recent was this one in Oakland, California, where seven people died. (We need) to try to address problems early and not let them escalate to a point where anything does become violent.”
According to Czyz, “Enough is Enough” sought to include events that not only promoted remembrance and prevention of violence, but life-affirming activities since April is also National Donate Life Month. The American Red Cross held a blood drive Monday and Tuesday as a part of the “Enough is Enough” effort.
“We want to keep the theme out there,” Czyz said. “We want to educate more students, faculty, staff on what the program is all about. That’s our hope, that we can keep this in the forefront of everybody’s mind.”
The week concludes today with a “Thisness” rally at 12:30 p.m. during which puzzle pieces painted by clubs earlier in the week will be assembled. There will also be a peace-themed music night in the Rathskeller from 6:30-10 p.m., Czyz said.
“We’re not considered a violent campus,” Czyz said. “But there are things that happen on a lot of different campuses that you think could never happen, we just want to try to promote awareness for nonviolence.”
linsenka10@bonaventure.edu
