The Women’s Resource and Services Office is an on-campus organization dedicated to promoting awareness and prevention of violence, harassment and sexism against women. Sabrina Laurent is the program director of the organization. She shared some of the objectives of the office and how it helps women on the Nicholls campus.

“Women’s Resource officially opened its doors in 2002 specifically addressing violence against women on campus,” Laurent says. “This includes faculty, staff and students who are affected. We started out primarily focusing on stalking, dating, domestic violence and sexual assault issues.”

One of the office’s goals is to create awareness of a violent situation before anything abusive or dangerous actually occurs.

“We provide outreach including raising awareness of the red flags of dating violence, some of the indicators and behaviors that can help someone identify whether their relationship is abusive or not,” Laurent says.

The office is equipped to handle crisis and responds through advocacy work. A student can report a problem to anyone on campus, and the office is called and immediately offers assistance, including immediate medical attention if necessary.

“We will go out whether it is daytime or nighttime,” Laurent says. “If a student reports something at two in the morning, they will call us. If the student wants assistance, we will come out and assist them at that point in time and do follow-up afterwards.”

“I guess another key component is we do a lot of referrals,” Laurent says, “If someone needs emergency shelter, will assess the situation, use University resources if possible and then contact our community resources. We’ll connect them to police assistance if necessary.”

In October and November, the office will put an e-mail out asking for donations of several things which can be put to use in violence prevention. One request is used cell phones.

“We utilize the cell phones and get them to Chez Hope Family Crisis Center or the Haven,” Laurent says. “They can be used for 911 calls in the case of an emergency.”

October is nationally recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness month. Because of this, the office will be holding a candlelight vigil. The vigil is known as their biggest event and will be held Oct. 21 at 6:00 p.m. in the Quad.

“We hold the vigil to remember the women or any person who has lost their life to domestic violence,” Laurent says. “And to continue to raise awareness about the work that still needs to be done.”

The office will also partner with Tao Kappa Epsilon Oct. 21 and 22 to promote the “White Ribbon Campaign,” which encourages men to take a stand against violence against women.

April is recognized as the official month of awareness concerning sexual assault.

“In April, we will be holding events, we will be in the Student Union, we will be sending out e-mails to the staff and students talking about where your resources are,” Laurent says, “basically anything that will let the staff and students know that if something like that does happen, then our campus community is here to help.