Iowa State Fraternity Theta Chi held their annual Candlelight Vigil to raise awareness for sexual assault and domestic violence.
Sam Perez, vice president of health and safety for Theta Chi, said they have been doing this once a semester for the past 12 years.
“I personally believe community as a whole strengthens us and I think this is a great way to help those who’ve been harmed by this topic,” Perez said.
Perez said this is important to him because he has friends and family that have dealt with this topic.
“This isn’t a problem that should be happening and as a community, we should be bettering ourselves by doing events like this,” Perez said.
Denise Denton, health and safety advisor for Theta Chi, said this is something they do through their sacred purpose initiative.
“The sacred purpose is a national initiative that the guys do that speaks specifically to mental health, substance abuse, issues, all things safety,” Denton said.
Denton said this impacts so many people that we don’t even realize.
“So many people have had trauma through sexual abuse or domestic abuse, and they feel like they’re alone and they shouldn’t be,” Denton said. “And I think this can try to bring attention to that. And we all have a piece of this. We all have a part.”
Denton said she enjoys seeing everybody in their house focus on the topic.
“I’ve known so many students that have been sexually abused in the many years that I was teaching, and it’s just horrifying,” Denton said.
John Fleming, advisor emeritus for Theta Chi, said this event brings awareness to an underreported problem.
“The victims are afraid to report and I think the more that there’s an awareness of these issues of assault and domestic environments, I think they may understand that there’s a support system in place to help them,” Fleming said. “I’m very proud of our chapter to facilitate this.”
Natasha Greene, a sexual assault team member for the Iowa State Police Department, spoke at this event.
“We know this is a community-wide issue,” Greene said. “It impacts all of us in one way or another. So then we all get to come together to talk about how we can best address these important topics that are impacting so many students and non-students.”
Greene was a victim advocate for almost five years and has been in office for 10.
“I’ve been working with those impacted by sexual violence for almost 15 years now, and I see the real-life impact it has on not only them but also their support circles, their friends, their peers in the classroom,” Greene said. “I see how much of an impact this has on our community in a negative way so I want to be part of the solution. That’s a large part of why I’m an officer.”
Greene said this event is an example of how much the community cares for each other in individual ways.
“And so whether it’s coming to this event or sharing resources with friends or saving them in their phone, just in case you need them later, or interrupting, an uncomfortable dynamic at a social setting, whatever it is, everybody gets to do their part in making everybody else feel a little bit safer,” Greene said.
Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen also spoke at this event.
“Theta Chi invited me to come and speak, and I was really excited to do that because they’re drawing attention to a critical issue of sexual violence,” Wintersteen said.
Wintersteen said she wants students to understand that sexual violence is something we can all be aware of.
“We have programs through green dot and green flag that can help all of us be trained so that we can prevent sexual violence,” Wintersteen said.
To contact Iowa State’s Police Department Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) provides 24/7 immediate assistance, visit their website for all contact information.
