ISU campus activists are hoping to prevent victims of violence from turning into cold statistics by sponsoring a campus-wide Week Without Violence.

As part of the week, there will be a discussion and video on “Violence in the Classroom: What Teachers Need to Know,” at noon today. Gene Deisinger, captain of the Special Operations Unit for the Department of Public Safety, will be facilitating the discussion in Room 248 of the Memorial Union.

It is important for faculty and teachers to deal with students early on and reach out to them and express concern since students often show warning signs of violence, Deisinger said. He said teachers should “be aware and bring them back into the fold.”

While many schools have reacted to potential violence by increasing security, Deisinger said he suggests using helpful intervention and expressing care and concern as another way to help reduce violence.

He said one way to do this is by recognizing differences in opinion and listening in a respectful manner to what others are saying.

Laura Armstrong, co-chair of the ISU Committee Against Violence, said the program on Wednesday will also show how to institute a curriculum of non-violence by paying attention to the language and metaphors that are used in the classroom.

The Week Without Violence, which began Oct. 11 and lasts until Oct. 25, is a worldwide YWCA activity that focuses on violence in schools, at work, in neighborhoods, in domestic situations and throughout the world.

The Week Without Violence is to encourage individuals to “recognize violence and take active steps to raise awareness,” said Judy Dolphin, director of the YWCA of Ames-ISU.

Armstrong, graduate student in English, said the idea behind the Week Without Violence is to have one week without violence lead to a month or a year without violence.

“We tend to think of men’s violence against women, but it’s much more than that,” she said. “We live in such a violent world. It would be different if everyone can imagine it doesn’t have to be this way; then we can find a way to change it.”

Other activities associated with the YWCA Week Without Violence include an artwork display at the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center that was created by children in day-care, preschool and youth shelters and illustrates a violence-free world, Armstrong said. Students on campus also are encouraged to submit work for the exhibit called “Imagine a Life Without Violence,” which will be on display all week.

“It is about constructing a reality to the statistics,” Dolphin said.

Eliminating the acceptance of violence, speaking out against racism and sexism and becoming outraged at acts of violence can increase awareness, Dolphin said.

“If you can imagine an hour, then a day and then a week without violence, then you can imagine a society without violence,” she said. “What is your world like without violence?”