Ever since professor Hector Torres and graduate student Stefania Gray were killed on a quiet Sunday in March, students, family, friends and colleagues have been tackling the issue of domestic violence.
Colleagues will hold an academic conference Sept. 27-28 starting at 9 a.m. in the SUB ballroom in order to further raise domestic violence awareness.
Gail Houston, English Department chair, said memorial services fell short of doing the tragedy justice.
“The faculty started talking, and we all wanted to do something more activist because this terrible, violent curse on society does not exclude University faculty and students,” she said.
Houston said the conference started as a grassroots movement among faculty members who were affected by the murder or incidences of domestic violence.
On March 8, Torres and Gray were found dead in Torres’ University-area home. Ralph Montoya, Gray’s ex-boyfriend, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Montoya reportedly confessed to his lawyer his guilt shortly before the professor and student were found.
The conference will include films, faculty lectures and literature about the culture and history of violence, as well as a silent auction to benefit the Hector Torres Memorial Scholarship and Stefania Gray’s children.
SafeTeen on Dating Violence will give a presentation, among many other sessions including one on protection orders and other legal responses to domestic violence.
Raji Vallury, a crucial player in the organizing the event, said in a Sept. 9 news release that domestic violence needs to be better understood on an emotional and an intellectual level.
“Removing the silence and invisibility that surround the problem of domestic violence and stalking is, to my mind, an important goal of the conference,” she said.
Community resource groups including Enlace, Urban Indian Advocacy Center, Asian Family Center and the LGBTQ Resource Center will also discuss work how UNM can respond to domestic violence and mull over drafting legislation to help make it easier to prosecute stalking and domestic violence cases.
“We want to cover as many bases as we can with this conference, and have a law come of it so that someone can’t get out on a lowered bail as easily as Gray’s ex did,” Houston said.
Samuel Valadez, a UNM freshman, said no one is insulated from domestic violence.
“I guess it just goes to show that UNM isn’t as safe as you think it is,” he said. “That kind of stuff can happen here too.”
That’s something Houston has come to realize as Torres’ friend or colleague.
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“Anyone who is dealing with a domestic violence situation needs to know that this is important,” she said. “It is something you take seriously. Go to a family member. Go to someone you trust, and don’t allow yourself to be a victim.”
