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.
