The Central Campus sidewalk was lined with 216 vacant chairs Thursday, representing the 216 people in Iowa who have died as a result of domestic abuse since 1995.

“We wanted to have a visual representation of the significant number of lives lost to domestic violence,” said Penny Rice, Women’s Center coordinator for the Dean of Students Office.

October is National Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, and the Women’s Center and ACCESS, or Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support, teamed up to host the sixth annual Chairs Project. The project’s message is that “violence leaves an empty place at the table.”

At each of these empty places was the story of the victim’s death. Students passing by stopped to read about the men, women and children murdered.

“It’s a subject people are uncomfortable with,” Rice said. “It is painful, and you can’t walk past this without absorbing a little bit of that.”

Three of the stories hit close to home for Ames residents.

Larry Brown was stabbed to death in 2007 in Ames by Catricia Shellburg, a woman with whom he lived. Lacrissa Davis died in 2008 after being shot by an ex-boyfriend in a convenience store in Ames. Shakena Varnell and her friend Michael Odikiro, both of Ames, were stabbed to death by Atiba Spellman, a man Varnell had dated.

“A lot of times, the cases you see on TV are domestic violence, but they’re portrayed as a crime of passion or strictly homicide,” said Cailan Sockness, victim advocate for ACCESS. “They don’t seem to represent the true issue of domestic violence.”

Domestic violence is any violence or physical abuse directed toward your spouse or domestic partner, according to ACCESS.

“It doesn’t have to be bruised faces or broken bones,” said Liz Steinborn, graduate assistant in educational leadership and policy studies. “It can be emotional and sexual.”

National studies found one in four women to have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime, and nearly three out of four people know a victim of domestic violence.

“It happens across ethnicity, across socio-economic class and across sexual orientation,” Rice said. “Every family is touched by this, and ultimately every one of us, because of the fear and intimidation that violence causes. It’s everyone’s business.”

During the display from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., ACCESS and Women’s Center members handed out purple ribbons, flyers and wristbands reading “Stop the violence.” Sockness said they gave away about 300 wristbands within the first hour.

ACCESS is sponsoring another event Friday entitled “Color the city purple.” The organization is asking everyone to wear purple to raise awareness about domestic abuse.

“People aren’t alone,” Steinborn said. “I think folks walk through this and don’t say anything, but they need to know that they’re not alone. There are people who can help them.”