By: Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
St. Bonaventure’s Damietta Center, Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and Safety and Security departments commenced the annual week-long “Enough is Enough” campaign by sponsoring an on-campus walk on April 18.
The walk started at the lawn beside the Hickey Dining Hall and circled around the internal loop of the campus as well as the Allegheny River Trail.
It included several educational stops along the way.
“Enough Is Enough,” which began in 2008, is a national initiative that looks to make strides in preventing violence. This awareness week took place during April in remembrance of the Columbine High School and Virginia Tech shootings, which occurred in April 1999 and April 2007 respectively.
In past years at St. Bonaventure, events supporting this movement were organized solely by VOICES, a campus organization that focuses on issues affecting women.
The week’s events were instead carried out by the Damietta Center.
“Walking together represented a visible opportunity for everyone to personally make a statement for violence prevention,” Yvonne Makl, coordinator for the Damietta Center, said. “We wanted to encourage students to think about the societal ramifications of violence.”
At the event, the ROTC program promoted the army’s stance against sexual violence.
“[The walk] really got people thinking about ways that they can try to eliminate violence in our society,” Kyle Trietley, a junior journalism and mass communication major and ROTC member, said. “[They can] take what they learned that day and heard that day and share it with other people and create a ripple effect so that we can reduce the amount of domestic and sexual violence that we see.”
Safety and Security officers helped with the walk as well because they help support students when violent incidents arise.
“[Safety and Security provided] a lot of moral support,” Ralph Aloia, the department’s interim director, said.
Safety and Security officers also funded the trinkets and giveaways presented at the event.
“I think the bottom line is just to share that we’re here for the student body,” Robbie Chulick, graduate assistant for campus activities and diversity, said. “Any student should know they should never not take action when there’s an injustice in our community.”
