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HBCU Students Acknowledged by The White House for
Leadership in Ending Violence Against Women
On Wednesday, September 22, 2010, Ending Violence Against Women student
ambassadors Alize Beal and Victoria Phifer were selected by the Office of
the Vice President to attend a reception at the home of Vice President Joe
Biden and Dr. Jill Biden to honor the 16th Anniversary of the Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA) for their student leadership with Ending Violence Against
Women (EVAW): The HBCU Project
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Courtesy
of The White House
L-R Victoria Phifer, Vice President Joe Biden and Alize Beal. |
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The
Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal
law. It was passed as Title IV, sec. 40001-40703 of the Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 HR 3355 and signed
as Public Law 103-322 by President Bill Clinton on September 13,
1994. It provided $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution
of the violent crime perpetrated against women, increased pre-trial
detention of the accused, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution
on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors
chose to leave unprosecuted. VAWA was championed and originally
drafted by then-Senator Biden in 1994 and focused on improving the
criminal justice response to domestic violence, stalking, and sexual
assault. Over
the past 16 years VAWA has sent 4 billion dollars to states and
local communities to develop specialized law enforcement units,
provide services
to victims, improve prosecution of these crimes, and train professionals
about domestic violence and sexual assault. "It is important
to continue to create peer to peer mentorship and programming on
all HBCU campuses to eliminating violence against women in our community. |
We need to build a level of comfortability amongst HBCU students to get
them to the place where they feel encouraged to disclose their story,
get help and don’t feel ashamed doing it” said Alize Beal,
who is currently a graduating senior at Howard University majoring in
International Business. “As students our campuses are our home.
We must hold our student peers and institutions accountable to provide
support for female victims of dating violence and sexual assault".
Prior
to attending the reception Beal and Phifer were invited to participate
in a closed listening session with representatives from the White
House, the Department of Health and Human Services Administration
for Children Youth and Families, the Department of Justice Office
on Violence Against Women, and the Department of Education Office
of Safe and Drug Free Schools. The listening session was led by
Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women.
Beal and Phifer both had the opportunity to present to the White
House and Federal agencies their recommendations, speak about the
need for more funding to support female victims and survivors on
HBCU campuses and describe the current issues that are facing young
African-American college students as it relates to violence against
women.
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ABOUT
EVAW: THE HBCU PROJECT
Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW): The HBCU Project, is an initiative
led by the Washington, DC-based health and human services agency, The
Wright Group, and funded under the U. S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Office on Women’s Health (OWH). EVAW is a call to action
for HBCU students, administration, alumni and supporters to engage in
on-campus capacity building activities—with the goal of decreasing
the incidences of violence against women on college campuses, and their
surrounding communities, as well as prompting each institution to develop
a Coordinated Campus Response (CCR). EVAW focuses on addressing the five
most common forms of violence against women on college campuses to include:
1) Cyberstalking, 2) Dating and Domestic Violence, 3) Harassment, 4) Stalking
and 5) Sexual Assault. (www.hbcuendingviolence.com)
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