Domestic abuse activist: 'Love shouldn't hurt'

Students and faculty alike brought awareness to the ongoing battle with domestic violence Monday during the first annual Gray-Torres Conference on Domestic Violence and Stalking.

Summer Little, the program manager at the UNM Women’s Resource Center, said reducing domestic violence across campus and in the community is in everyone’s best interest.

“Violence is everybody’s business, and we all need to react and respond,” she said.

Organized in reaction to the murders of graduate student Stefania Gray and Professor Hector Torres in March, Monday’s conference offered a panel to educate people on forms of domestic violence.

The conference ends today as speakers tackle issues including personal safety, orders of protection and female victimization. It concludes with a silent auction and poetry reading in the SUB, and the proceeds benefit Gray’s daughter and the Hector Torres Memorial Fund.

Breanna Alex, the case manager at Haven House, a center for victims of domestic violence, said the first step in eradicating domestic violence is recognizing the problem.

“Domestic violence isn’t something that is one specific gender, race or social economic status,” she said. “New Mexico has a problem with domestic violence a lot more than some states, not to say that it isn’t a problem everywhere in the country.”

Danelle Becklund, a part-time mental health care counselor at the Domestic Violence Resource Center, said when a person leaves an abusive relationship they are most vulnerable.

“Get help, whether it’s restraining orders, legal help or counseling,” Becklund said. “That way when you are in other relationships you don’t repeat the pattern all over again,”

Juniper Decker, a Women’s Resource Center employee, said students are affected by domestic violence, and the issue is living and breathing on campus.

“I chose to participate in this symposium because I feel like it’s really important to raise awareness about this silent topic,” Decker said. “Love shouldn’t hurt.”