The Clothesline Project, which allowed students to share their stories of being abused in any way through writing on a T-shirt, was hosted in the south end of the Mall today.
Many people passing by the Mall stopped to read the T-shirts. Some were encouraged to write their own experiences as well.
“It has been a really good event,” Textbook Buyer and Co-leader of Campus Violence Response Team (CVRT) Holly Hagan said.
She said that there was a lot of foot traffic this year, compared to previous ones.
She walked along the Mall, talking to those passing by about the Clothesline Project and if they wanted to learn how to defend themselves from a knife attack.
Some members of Magda Institute came to teach about defending oneself against a knife attack for free.
“It tears me up inside,” Kayla Park, an 18-year-old psychology major, said upon reading some of the things people went through and experienced.
She was raped and physically abused by her ex-boyfriend, she said.
She took him to court and got a restraining order against him. She also said that by writing her story on a T-shirt she could make a stand, but not only her but everyone who writes in one.
Laura Leiva, a 20-year-old pre-law major, said that when she read some of the stories, she was shocked. She thought they were hard to believe, and that it was sad that those things have actually happened to others.
Hagan said that if people needed help they could talk to her.
Each color of T-shirt has different meanings, from abuses to attacks for being perceived as homosexuals.