Purple Door Campaign Comes to Harvard

Domestic violence is an issue that affects people across the country. As part of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Harvard is doing its part to raise awareness.

Purple Door Campaign participants spent last night journeying through rooms and dining halls to distribute purple ribbons. The Purple Door Campaign seeks to raise awareness for relationship violence and promote healthy relationships through the spread and display of purple ribbons.

Eliot House members released a video featuring members of their community sharing words they associate with healthy relationships. In an email sent to the Eliot House list, Eliot's Sexual Assault/Sexual Harassment (SASH) advisers called the video "a part of our House, Campus, and National efforts…to eradicate domestic and relationship violence."

Along with the ribbons and video, project organizers are distributing information pamphlets. These flyers, appropriately printed on light purple paper, come with their own "relationship bill of rights." This list of eight declarations is headed with, "I have the right to an equal relationship with my partner," and the bill emphasizes proper treatment in both emotional and physical mediums. The pamphlet also includes a brief description of relationship violence, defining it as "a pattern of controlling behaviors exerted by one partner over the other."