![[FILE] One of the baby shirts apart of the Clothesline expressing a firsthand account of sexual assault.](https://kcroonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/lc-5-1200x900.jpg)
Resources, Intervention, Support and Education (RISE) partnered with UMKC Women’s Center for their Clothesline Project on Oct. 8 to highlight Domestic Violence Awareness Month and provide resources for those who need it on campus.
This project teaches students about the importance of being able to recognize what is and isn’t a healthy relationship and what kind of resources the campus offers to protect students.
“The clothesline project goal is to bring awareness to domestic violence, provide supportive resources for survivors, and teach the UMKC community about domestic violence and how we can be supportive,” said Alyson Frydman, the Outreach and Prevention Education Coordinator in the RISE office.
“We have shirts as old as 2007, maybe even older. The display itself is kind of an amalgamation of different years worth of students and all their messages of support or stories of people that were impacted themselves,” she said.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Oct. 2 is International Day of Non-Violence. Frydman goes on to explain why hosting events like these are impactful and important.
“It’s kind of a double duty in terms of really trying to end domestic violence, as well as bring awareness to the fact that this is a time where we should be honoring survivors and adding levels of support and really learning how to support each other,” said Frydman.
Chelsie Duckworth, Senior Program Coordinator for the Women’s Center, discusses what kind of message this project will hopefully send to survivors of domestic violence.
“We hope that any students experiencing any situation in their personal life feel like they have resources on campus that they can come to.” Duckworth said. “Even if we don’t reach the whole campus, hopefully we reach the people that we need to. Even if we make a big impact on one person’s life, that’s great. We have to believe that we’re doing some good somehow.”
Biology major Johana Suanez attended the project and answered why awareness on campus is important for everyone.
“It brings up the actual topic, which is not really brought up often. It really helps students be aware that they’re not alone if it has happened to them. It’s really nice to be taken care of and have support here,” said Suanez.
She also shared her thoughts on the shirts displayed and what to take away from it.
“I haven’t seen the shirts before, this is my first time seeing them. I thought it was really encouraging and I think students should know that even the little things help so much. I think it’s very beautiful that we can do this on campus.”