NSU Announces its First Clothesline
Project
Norfolk, Va.—As part of its Women’s
History Month Celebration, Norfolk State University’s Office
of Residence Life and Housing will kick off its first NSU
Clothesline Project, an internationally recognized program
that supports women who have been victims of sexual assault,
abuse, or domestic violence, at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2
at the Mills E. Godwin Student Union, Ballroom A.
Co-sponsored by the University Police,
Counseling Center, and Randolph Macon College, the NSU
Clothesline Project will be held in conjunction with
Breaking the Silence, a program that will share stories of
men, women and children affected by domestic violence.
Darlene Ward, sexual violence outreach coordinator at the
Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, will
serve as the keynote presenter.
The National Clothesline Project was
started in 1990 as a vehicle for women affected by violence
to express their emotions and thoughts through words and art
on a t-shirt. The t-shirts, which come in various colors
representative of various types of violence, are displayed
on a clothesline to be viewed by others as a testimony to
the problem of violence against women.
The “clothesline metaphor”
evolved from the perception that doing laundry was
considered women’s work, and hanging out the laundry was an
opportunity for women to talk and share their lives with one
another.
The program and display will serve as
an educational tool to inform and heal faculty, staff and
students who have been suffering in silence. For more
information, call the Office of News and Media Relations at
823-8373.
