By Ella Banken
Students participated in Western’s second annual Clothesline Project event under the Wilson Library skybridge on Wednesday, Oct. 24.
Passersby were invited to decorate a t-shirt with messages of support, personal stories or statistics about sexual assault. The painted shirts were then hung on clothes lines that spanned the underside of the bridge.
The Clothesline Project was started in the 1990s by women who wanted to “air the dirty laundry” about sexual assault and violence against women, according to Gabby Rigby.
An informational handout that they offered described how the project “has grown to include anyone who is being affected by interpersonal violence.”
Rigby is a peer health educator for Consultation and Sexual Assault Support (CASAS). This event was put on by CASAS through Western’s Prevention and Wellness Services. He, along with several other peer health educators, were holding the event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
They wanted to make a space where survivors of sexual assault could feel supported. Even those who aren’t survivors were invited to make a shirt to show their empathy and encouragement.
Last year, they used paper in the shape of t-shirts. This year however, they used actual clothing. Three bags of shirts were donated to this event by Wise Buys, a Bellingham thrift store. The organizers decorated a handful of shirts themselves, but dozens were being decorated and hung, lining the walkway.
Rigby said that they are planning to do this project again in the spring. Each time the project happens on campus, the shirts will be saved and hung again the next time. One of their goals is to get enough shirts decorated to hang on a line all the way through campus, which Rigby estimated to be a mile long.
For those decorating shirts and any others interested, the peer health educators present were offering pamphlets and handouts. Flyers with information about confidential services, ways students can get involved in making Western’s campus safer and even a Halloween themed mini-guide about healthy relationships.
College campuses have been participating in this event for a couple decades, but this is just Western’s second year.
Photos by Ella Banken// AS Review
