The women residing in one of Vanderbilt's Mayfield Living/Learning Lodges are dedicated to making living and learning a little easier for sexual assault survivors.
On Thursday, March 27, Mayfield 14 will host "Raising Voices," a concert and silent auction that will benefit student survivors of sexual assault on campus. The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. with hors d'oeuvres in the Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life, and a concert featuring Sigma Alpha Iota, Phi Mu Alpha, Original Cast, Spoken Word and Tree Flannel will follow at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5 on the Wall this week or $7 at the door.
Mayfield Living/Learning Lodges are assigned to groups of 10 students who develop a theme-based, educational, year-long project. The effort is student-driven, but each lodge also works with one or more faculty advisers.
For Mayfield 14, "Raising Voices" has been an especially challenging yet rewarding endeavor.
Sophomore resident Alison Hartog said she is passionate about raising awareness of violence against women, but she admits the topic can get overwhelming.
"It is a very heavy topic to deal with day in and day out, so it was important for us to all support each other and take a step back every once in awhile," she said. "That is why it was so important to have each other in the house to turn to for support and encouragement."
Sophomore Mary Beth Harding said she is equally impressed by her group's camaraderie and dedication.
"I have felt completely blessed to see many of my fellow housemates becoming so passionate about ending violence," Harding said. "Seeing other women (and many of our male friends) respond with such vigor has inspired me to continue working toward an end to violence against women."
According to Vanderbilt's Project Safe Web site, one out of seven women attending college has been raped. A national violence against women survey also discovered that nine out of 10 women raped on campus do not tell anyone about it.
Rape survivors at Vanderbilt are encouraged to visit the Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center, which provides a wide range of support and services. The money raised by "Raising Voices" will be used to establish a student hardship fund that will be administered by the center.
"Aid recipients can be any Vanderbilt student affected by sexual assault and violence," Harding said. "If a student is in search of financial aid, as well as many other forms of help, they can go to the Margaret Cunningham Women's Center where someone will help them fill out an application. These funds can help provide for a multitude of financial needs including medical fees, legal fees and even plane tickets if a survivor needs support from friends and family. ... There is already a similar fund for faculty and community members."
For Harding and the other residents, the structure of the Mayfield Program has been helpful in allowing them to make such a large impact on this problem.
"Being in a Mayfield has helped provide a platform for us to speak from," Harding said, "aiding us in the crusade to end violence against women."
Sophomore resident Jean Luan is especially grateful to the faculty advisers who assisted with the project.
"We have fabulous advisers who are very involved in our project," Luan said. "They often came to our weekly meetings and through our discussions with them and our experiences at Hand-in-Hand training, Take Back the Night and other events, we learned of a need of a fund to benefit survivors of violence on Vanderbilt's campus."
However, the journey for these ladies will not end with Thursday's event or the creation of the student hardship fund.
Harding has been personally affected by sexual violence throughout her life and sees the Mayfield project as one part of the solution.
"Because I have experienced this particular form of violence, I understand that the only way to end it is to speak out," she said. "Until women can live without the fear of being assaulted, I refuse to shut up and stop fighting this battle."
- Tamesha Derico can be reached at tamesha.s.derico@vanderbilt.edu
