lowers on the Lake, a nationally recognized event honoring victims and survivors of domestic violence will be held at the University of Southern Indiana. The program begins at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, October 15 in front of the Liberal Arts Center.

USI’s Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice (SAC) Club and student members of the Gender Studies Program will speak about the victims whose lives have been lost in Indiana due to intimate partner homicide. Afterwards, they will hand attendees resource pamphlets shaped as cones holding flower petals, and walk out to Reflection Lake on the USI campus, where the flowers will be scattered into the water in memory of the victims and in honor of survivors.

Using state statistics, a bell rings out for each person who has died in Indiana due to domestic violence. “It’s very powerful when you’re standing there and you keep hearing those bell messages and you know that each one of those represents a life that was lost this year in our area,” said Dr. Melinda Roberts, associate professor of criminal justice, interim director of gender studies and SAC Club advisor.

This is the third year that the USI Sexual Assault and Gender Violence Prevention Group has organized and held the event on the USI campus. They received the help of the Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice (SAC) Club and the Gender Studies Program, along with community collaborator Albion Fellows Bacon Center.

In conjunction with the Flowers on the Lake event, there will be life-size silhouettes in various locations across campus representing real victims in Indiana. This project, entitled Silent Witness (also nationally recognized), involves research by SAC students to create badges that tell that individual’s story. Along with adult silhouettes, there will be child-sized silhouettes representing youth who have been victimized.

“With the SAC Club community activities, students get to inspire hope in ending violence and they help victims and their families heal,” said Roberts.

The event is free of charge and open to the public. Participants should meet at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Liberal Arts Center. For more information contact Roberts at mrroberts1@usi.edu or 812-461-5475.

The 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an Order of Stay preventing the implementation of the Waters of the United States regulation pending final judicial review.

In response, Governor Mike Pence issued the following statement:

“I am encouraged by the 6^th Circuit’s decision to halt this federal overreach.  There are significant issues with this rule that must be carefully addressed.  The court’s Order of Stay ensures that Indiana will not be irreparably harmed by a rule that I believe will ultimately fail on its merits.

“The solutions to the challenges we face will most effectively emanate from our state capitals, not federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.  In Indiana, we are growing our economy, creating jobs, and feeding the world by eliminating bureaucratic red tape and reducing the size of government.  I believe that Hoosiers know best how to protect our waters, and this rule inhibits Indiana’s ability to manage its own affairs.”

Background: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the Waters of United States regulation in an attempt to clarify and redefine the limits of federal jurisdiction over waterways under the Clean Water Act.  In its Order, the 6^th Circuit noted that, “the sheer breadth of the ripple effects caused by the Rule’s definitional changes counsels strongly in favor of maintaining the status quo for the time being.” In November of 2014, Governor Pence and Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann sent letters to the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urging them to withdraw the proposed rule that redefines “Waters of the United States” protected under the Clean Water Act. The letter in full can be found attached.

Governor Pence Letter to EPA 11.14.14