On April 24-25 and 28-30, Students Supporting Survivors (SSS) held their first donation drive in the Brew for domestic abuse survivors, collecting monetary donations, clothing and new hygiene products. All proceeds will go towards purchasing bus passes for domestic violence (DV) survivors.
On April 29, the organization collected $127 and five garbage bags full of clothing. SSS also held a booth at the Take Back The Night rally at the Brunner Theatre Center on April 27.
SSS is a student advocacy group formed out of Professor of History Jane Simonsen’s class, WGSS-330 Feminist Theory. The group was founded by five Augustana students.
Senior Paige Meyer is one of the creators of SSS and said the group’s focus came in light of recent federal cuts to domestic violence funding and shelters. In past weeks, the Department of Justice has defunded many organizations throughout the nation, with some cuts now possibly being reversed.
“I was worried about so many grants for domestic violence organizations that have just been cut or frozen, or even if they are no longer cut, the people who are applying for them are actually told by those in power and worth they shouldn’t be applying for these right now,” Meyer said.
To best support survivors, Meyer said their team worked with Family Resources, a local social services organization, to determine what individuals affected by domestic violence need most. This helped determine SSS’s objectives, they said.
Senior Gracie Gwozdz is also a member of SSS and said the group has three demands: obtain bus passes for survivors, ensure emergency contraceptives are readily available on campus through Public Safety and secure a sexual assault nurse on campus.
In order to establish their plans, she said SSS interviewed various faculty on campus, including Special Assistant to the President Kai Swanson, Public Safety officials and Title IX coordinator Steve Wehling. SSS selected Public Safety as the designated provider for emergency contraceptives on campus, she said, due to their around-the-clock work with students.
But, she said their request for on-hand contraceptives from officers was denied.
“We talked to Public Safety, and [they] said there is a liability issue with giving out medication,” Gwozdz said. “They can’t even give out Tylenol or ibuprofen, let alone emergency contraception.”
However, SSS is still fighting for its demands. Meyer said the group is now exploring other ways to improve the sexual assault response on campus, such as implementing training with Public Safety.
To reach their goal of providing bus passes to survivors, Meyer said SSS has created a petition to redirect unused student bus pass money to individuals affected by DV who need access to transportation. According to the petition, Augustana spends over $10,000 a year on free passes for students, but many go unused, with no system in place to track the amount actually used.
“The petition is to show the administration that a large number of students don’t actually use their free bus pass,” Meyer said. “Even if nothing comes from it, we’ll still have something for the administration to actually document the amount of student support.”
Senior Molly Sullivan is also a member of SSS, along with Junior Leah Mack. Mack said this issue is prevalent to all students because over one in three women and one in four men experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.
Mack said she hopes the SSS program continues past their course this semester and is able to be carried on by nongraduating members, such as herself.
“It [is] sort of like a pilot program,” Mack said. “It’d be amazing to continue year after year. More people would know about it, and we can get more information.”
