OASIS – or Outreach and Advocacy: Sexuality Information for Students – hosted the Red Flag Campaign on the lawn outside of Nicks Hall on Oct. 24, which educated students, faculty and staff about the commonness of relationship violence, especially on college campuses.

  • (Photograph by Olivia Dixon / East Tennessean)
  • (Photograph by Olivia Dixon / East Tennessean)

According to OASIS Program Coordinator and Senior Counselor Kate Emmerich, one in three students report experiencing some kind of power control in a relationship.

“The idea of the campaign is to have students fill out a red flag of their own,” Emmerich said. “Either of something they’ve experienced or something they’re aware of. One of the biggest components of power and control in a relationship is isolation, so this is a way to connect students and remind them that they are not alone.”

The red flag idea means the warning signs that a relationship can be toxic, abusive or violent.

The lawn outside of Nicks Hall was littered with personalized red flags with messages such as, “Love doesn’t hurt,” “He says the kind of relationship I want is impossible. It’s not,” and “You are created for a possible purpose,” just to name a few.

Among education on relationship violence itself, OASIS also provided information on how to be an active bystander when witnessing an abuse.

“If we can all just take responsibility to share the information, and to look at ourselves and our own behaviors honestly and humbly, because none of us are perfect, and we have been very poorly educated about these kinds of things,” Emmerich said. “Just calling out things when we hear them like inappropriate behaviors and actions by others like rape jokes, being disrespectful [to those with different] gender identities or being disrespectful to any human.”

OASIS continues its mission in providing education about healthy sexuality and healthy relationships as a method of preventing relationship violence through other informative events, programs and counseling for those who have been affected by sexual and relationship violence.

If you or someone you know is dealing with sexual or relationship violence and needs help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE.