The quad was busy from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 23 with over a dozen tables featuring information about sexual health and domestic violence, and a purple tie-dying event held by Project SAFE. This was the Empowerment Fair, a part of Project SAFE’s Empowerment Week.
Empowerment Week is held annually in October at Occidental in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This year, it took place Oct. 21 to 25. Project SAFE Program Coordinator and Survivor Advocate Stephanie Candelaria said the week has been a tradition at Occidental for more than three years.
“We also have the spring equivalent, which is called ‘Take Back the Week’ for Sexual Assault Awareness month,” Candelaria said.
Project SAFE’s goal, according to their website, is to educate the Occidental community on sexual assault, dating violence, sexual harassment, exploitation and stalking and to advocate for and support people in need of help. The project aims to foster a community of “upstanders” who will speak out if they witness instances of violence.
Amelia Flynn (junior), peer advocate at Project SAFE, said community building and advocacy are the organization’s two intentions with Empowerment Week. Flynn said that Project SAFE was holding the Empowerment Fair as much for victim support as for spreading awareness of what domestic violence is and what the Project SAFE office does on campus.
“Even though it is about a very specific issue — sexual violence and preventing sexual harm on campus — [Empowerment Week] is part of our bigger goal to build community on campus,” Flynn said.
The coordination of the fair, according to Candelaria, usually falls under the supervision of Project SAFE’s Prevention Education Coordinator, but she said they do not currently have anyone in that role. Candelaria said she and Project SAFE Director Lizzy Denny have been sharing the responsibilities of the role and as a result, have been more heavily involved this year in the planning of 2024 Empowerment Week.
“I’ve been a point of contact for our off-campus resources […] while Lizzy has been working more on the budgetary side,” Candelaria said.
Candelaria said she organized to have seven off-campus resource tables at the fair, including the Jenesse Center, Los Angeles Administrative Services Credential (LAASC), The Feminist Front, Reach LA, LA LGBT Center’s Mi Centro, the South Asian Network (SAN) and the South Asian Helpline and Referral Agency (SAHARA).
Candelaria said she had 11 Occidental affiliated groups table at the Empowerment Fair as well: the Title IX office, Intercultural Community Center (ICC), Equity & Justice Office, Occidental Athletics Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee, KOXY, Emmons’ Peer Power Program (PPP), Alpha Lambda Phi Alpha Sorority, Delta Omicron Tau Sorority, Women Inspiring iNner Kindness (WINK) club, Disabled Student Union (DSU) and the Rising Occidental Student Employees (ROSE) organization.
The intentions of both SAN and SAHARA include advocacy and victim support for domestic violence survivors, and they both offer services for support and healing from gender-based violence. SAN has a Community Health Action Initiative they call CHAI.
“Providing services in a language that we don’t have at Oxy can be really important for a survivor,” Candelaria said. “We are always trying to center marginal voices as much as possible. Survivors themselves can be considered a marginalized group, so [we are] bringing awareness to that experience of surviving violence and celebrating those stories [and] including everyone.”
Students stretched out on yoga mats on Stewie Beach in front of the Project SAFE office Oct. 22 as the sun set over campus. The Sunset Yoga event was co-sponsored by Project SAFE and First Gen Coalition. Candelaria said she was pleased with how the yoga session turned out.
“Sunset yoga last night was centered on somatic empowerment and what empowerment feels like in the body,” Candelaria said. “Here at the student patio, we have the best view on campus and we timed it perfectly for the yoga to be wrapping up right as the sun was setting. It was really beautiful.”
Down the stairs from Stewie Beach lies Sycamore Glen, where a large group met Oct. 24 to decorate mirrors and connect. This was the Project SAFE Confidence Building Workshop held on Purple Thursday by Project SAFE, PPP and WINK.
Peer Advocate Chloe Ford (senior) said the Confidence Building Workshop was aimed to help peers discuss healthy relationships, communication, consent and stress through the lens of empowerment and self-reflection. The workshop was mostly student-run, according to Candelaria, Ford and Flynn.
“We came up with the idea during our training week, right before the semester started […] We’ve been working on it slowly ever since,” Flynn said.
Ford said empowerment is particularly important for people who have experienced domestic or other forms of psychological or physical violence and that any marginalized Occidental student could benefit from the Confidence Building Workshop.
“Have you ever heard of the phrase, ‘Hurt people, hurt people’? Well, empowered people empower others,” Ford said.
Contact Grace Gonsalves at gonsalves@oxy.edu
