The reality of
Domestic Violence Katherine Bauer News Editor katherine.bauer@drake.edu @bauer_katherine
When people hear the words domestic violence, images of black eyes, beating and abuse may pop into their heads. Violence Intervention Partners (VIP) and other prevention services at Drake University are trying to change that image. “Basically with domestic abuse, at the core, it’s abusers trying to gain the power and control over the other person,” said Stacey Granger, a domestic violence advocate with Children and Families of Iowa who supervises VIP. “That’s their main goal.” Granger said that while domestic abuse or dating violence does include physical harm, it can also take on the forms of emotional and mental abuse. Manipulation, put downs, intense jealousy and isolation are all forms of domestic abuse. These non-physical forms of domestic violence take shape in ways that demand control by the
abuser in a relationship. A list of red flags is posted on the Office for Sexual Violence Response and Healthy Relationship Promotion website. Instances of abuse include when someone: • Tries to isolate their partner from family and friends • Controls where their significant other can go • Blames their significant other for the treatment they receive • Takes and withholds money from their significant other • Threatens to kill themselves if their significant other leaves them “What it means is one person believing that their needs are more important than their partner’s need or that their rights are always more important than their partner’s rights,” Drake’s Prevention Coordinator Tess Cody said. For men and women who have experienced domestic violence, their understanding of love and trust can be greatly altered, according to Cody.
H T
’ N D
L U O
T R U
H S E
V O L
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
[td] timesdelphic.com
Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016
CAMPUS EVENT
ELECTION 2016
Young man’s death inspires Reggie’s Sleepout Presidential
mock debate continues despite low attendance
Matthew Gogerty Sports Editor matthew.gogerty@drake.edu @matt_gogo
Reggie’s Sleepout began at 3 p.m. on Oct. 22 with people coming to claim their spots on the field and register for the “boxedin contest,” which is exactly what it sounds like: people building temporary shelters out of cardboard in a competition to see who can come up with the best design. The boxed-in contest gives participants an idea of what it feels like to live in the type of structures and conditions that the homeless population experiences every night. “It’s pretty neat to see the themes,” said Toby O’Berry, director of Iowa Homeless Youth Center. “We have groups that come back year after year: different churches, organizations, and clubs. They work on their theme for months. We’ve had unique ones where a group designed a tank and they were going to fight homelessness.” At the event, there were boxedin structures built to represent a number of things, most notably the replica of the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden and the Joppa Tiny Home-inspired minicamp set up by a number of Des Moines University students. “Our box village was inspired by Joppa’s Tiny Home that they have suggested as a possible plan for Des Moines,” Julia Blue said, a second year medical student at Des Moines University. “Whether that happens here or not we just love the idea and we wanted to replicate it here.” Youth and Shelter Services (YSS) has been a huge component in the fight against homeless youth since its official inception in 1976. Reggie’s Sleepout has grown to be one of the biggest outpours of community support the non-profit has found. “We typically have around 1,000 people sleep out,” O’Berry said. “The average donation is about $50 per camp, so it’s really grassroots, friends asking friends, just small gifts, which means the community is really embracing the cause.”
Drake Rhone Contributing Writer drake.rhone@drake.edu @drakerhone
PARTICIPANTS put together their temporary boxed structures to sleep out in Drake Stadium. People used card board boxes and rolls, tape, tarps and even egg cartons to build their shelter. PHOTO BY CASSANDRA BAUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER In 2001, the young man named Reggie Kelsey aged out of the foster care system in Iowa and died three and a half months later while camping by the Des Moines River. The response by Youth and Shelter Services was to implement an aftercare system that would give young men in Reggie’s age range a chance after they aged out of the system. The sleep-out is the main source of funds for the programs that has been implemented in the light of Reggie’s story. “We typically raise from anywhere between $100,000 to $140,000 from just this one event,” O’Berry said. “100 percent of that goes directly to supporting our youth, so it allows us to (do)
some of the work we do that maybe can’t be funded by a grant or isn’t funded by a grant.” One such program, offered by YSS and Iowa Homeless Youth Centers, is their Transitional Living Program, which offers people ages 16-21 safe housing in order to focus on more pressing things like education and employment. “People say, ‘Well, if they just went out and got a job…’ but it’s not that easy,” YSS Board Member Mary Oliver said. “It’s not a matter of making them comfortable being homeless, the goal is to get them out of homelessness.” Mary Oliver has been present at all 11 sleep-outs and was involved in the planning meeting
for the very first sleep-out. “The big issue is awareness,” Oliver said. “There are so many people who have no idea that we have homeless young adults in Iowa, they say, ‘No, that doesn’t happen here’ They become aware of the issue and some of the issues around how it is that kids become homeless, and how they get out of homelessness.” At the time this article was written, Iowa Homeless Youth Center had reached over $90,000 of their $150,000 goal. Since the sleep-out began in 2005, over $1.4 million have been raised to battle youth homelessness in the Des Moines area and the state of Iowa.
twitter: @timesdelphic | instagram: @draketimesdelphic | facebook: Times-Delphic | snapchat: drake-td
At 7 p.m. on Thursday, only four people had arrived to Meredith 106 to watch the presidents of Students for Trump and Students for Hillary debate policy issues and promote their respective candidates. By the time the open question portion started at 8 p.m., late arrivals brought the number of audience members to 17 in time to ask Josh Hughes, of Students for Hillary, and Joe Weinrich, of Students for Trump, questions about their chosen candidate’s policy. “We didn’t spend a lot of time marketing the debate,” Hughes said. “So I don’t think it’s incredibly predictive of what voter turnout among students is going to be like. I think it’s just a rough time for people. I was happy to do it, and I’m glad we did.” Hughes said that he and Weinrich had agreed to the debate because they were “disgusted that at the national level there wasn’t a substantive discussion of policy.” Hughes said that they agreed that there were too many young people who were turned off from politics by all the mud-slinging and name-calling and wanted to encourage a healthy discussion of actual policy issues. The first part of the student debate featured questions from moderator Dennis Goldford, Drake’s political science department chair. Among questions to clarify Clinton’s policy, Hughes answered inquiries into why there seems to be an enthusiasm gap between older citizens and college-aged, first-time voters. “I grew up with Barack Obama as president,” Hughes said. “He’s been president for almost as long as I can remember.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3