Molloy works to end relationship violence

According to studies, one third of women ages 17 to 24 have been the victim of some kind of violence. To help the people on campus who may be carrying the silent burden of being a victim, Molloy College created the Partner Project.

The goal of the Partner Project — which was created by Teresa Aprigliano, the associate dean and director of the Division of Nursing, and John Amodeo, the assistant director of public safety — is to shine a light on relationship violence and let victims know that they don’t have to suffer silently or alone.

“This is more a program that brings an awareness about [relationship violence],” Aprigliano said. “We’re working with campus ministries and the counseling program here. So it’s really trying to bring in all the resources the campus has to let students be aware that it’s OK to talk and that we want to hear from them, and then connect them to the resources.”

Aprigliano said the problem isn’t relationship violence that happens on campus, but incidents off campus. The emotions caused by off-campus incidents can affect students’ campus life.

It puts Molloy in a unique position, Aprigliano explained, to create a safe place for students.

“We said this is really something that we need to start bringing out, because the main issue with relationship violence is non-disclosure,” said Amodeo. “We decided to create this outlet that covers not only education, but research, and kind of gives them the opportunity to tell someone something they’ve never told before. After you graduate and you have your degree and you walk off the stage, we’re concerned about what happens to them.”

In addition to helping the victims of relationship violence, Aprigliano said she also hopes to help others on the campus to be “positive bystanders.” “So when they recognize something as not healthy, they have a skillset to intervene,” she said.

To help raise more awareness of relationship violence and of the Partner Project, Aprigliano and Amodeo are holding an event in January featuring speaker Ted Bunch, the founder of A Call To Men — an organization that calls on men to end violence against women.