A little blue Geo Metro sits in front of Memorial Union. Its windows are all smashed in and the interior is completely burnt and rusted. Every 30 seconds the car beeps. Every beep represents twelve people who just died as a result of an act of violence in the United States.

The car was donated to the Iowa State Week Without Violence Committee. It is surrounded by billboards set up by the committee with more statistics about violence in the United States and articles about violence in Iowa.

Iowa State President Martin Jischke spoke on the steps of Beardshear Hall yesterday at noon to a crowd of about 20 people about violence, kicking off the National Week Without Violence activities on campus.

“The more people who speak out against violence, the less acceptable it will be in our society.” Jischke said.

Jischke quoted Martin Luther King, Jr., pointing out that, “Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder the hate.’ The problem with violence is it doesn’t cure the things against which the violence is directed.”

Jischke’s proposed cure for violence is education. “We are an educational community,” he said. “Through education, we will come to understand more fully why violence is unfruitful in solving conflicts.”

David White, a member of the Week Without Violence Committee, mentioned several forms that violence takes. He said there are children in our society who fear the parents who are supposed to show them love.

There are women, he said, who fear the men who should be sharing their lives, women who are afraid to walk down the streets and sidewalks during the day and at night.

“I’d like to leave my world better than when I got here,” White said, explaining why he is involved with Week Without Violence.

“Week Without Violence challenges every person to go for a week without committing, observing or perpetrating violence,” said Julie Wooden, co-chairwoman of the committee. “The focus of the week is not so much on the fact that violence exists but on what we can do to avoid violence in the future.”

Other events this week include a BRAVE (Be Ready Against Violence Everywhere) presentation on Wednesday in Willow Main Lounge at Willow Hall from 6 to 8 p.m.

The presentation about how to avoid violence, Wooden said, will be geared toward students, instructing them to be aware of their surroundings and people they are with.

At a Spreading Peace rally Friday on central campus at 1 p.m., the committee will distribute cards listing eight ways to control anger.

Week Without Violence is sponsored by the YWCA.

“That we can make it a less violent world I think is not only possible; it is achievable,” Jischke said. “Can we eliminate violence? That I don’t know.”