Experts share dangers of dating violence

As Gov. Brown vetoes bill, College of the Canyons, Child & Family Center work on ways to inform youth

While Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have mandated colleges to share information on dating violence, locally, experts continue to work on ways to inform youth about the dangers.

Current law directs colleges to address sexual violence and assault in orientations for new students. On Wednesday, Brown vetoed a measure that would have expanded on those requirements to specifically include intimate partner and dating violence.

The reason given was he wanted to hold off on changing existing state law until a panel of experts returned recommendations on how to better address sexual assault on college campuses.

Despite his veto of the intimate partner violence bill, the

governor did approve a different bill to prevent domestic violence homicides by training law enforcement officers to identify victims whose lives are in danger and connect them with local support services. That bill, by state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, was important for helping those in abusive relationships get the help they need, said Linda Davies, director for the Child & Family Center’s Domestic Violence Program.

The program has scaled back its presence at College of the Canyons recently due to lack of interest from the students, Davies said. Since December, youth advocates have stopped tabling at the college, where they were once stationed every Tuesday.

“We’ve tried for the last six years to have a program on campus, but very few students talked about domestic violence,” Davies said. “We’ve worked closely with the health center that wants our presence on campus. There’s domestic violence happening, but people don’t’ want to talk about it.”

In 2016, College of the Canyons had one official intimate partner violence incident reported, according to the college’s website.

COC may not deal with this issue as extensively as other universities due to not having residential housing, said Larry Schallert, assistant director of COC’s Student Health & Wellness Center. If students spend less time on campus because they don’t live there, the chances of a domestic violence situation happening on campus decreases, he said.

However, if an incident that happened off-campus is reported, the college still must deal with it, as it concerns their students, said Tammy Castor, director of security for College of the Canyons. After the incident report is done, it goes to the dean, where disciplinary measures are discussed.

Although the Domestic Violence Program doesn’t go to the college directly anymore, it does have a presence in the high schools among teens.

Through a program called, “In Touch with Teens,” Domestic Violence Program youth advocates talk about healthy relationships, cautionary measures regarding sexual assault and more. “We do cover those topics in the high schools and that’s an important thing to do,” Davies said. “High school students do talk about it because we’re in their classes. At the college level, I think people have a stigma of talking about it. No one wants to admit that’s a relationship they’re in.

“The younger you go,” she added, “the better you’ll be able to break a cycle.”

“We’ve tried for the last six years to have a program on campus, but very few students talked about domestic violence.”

Linda Davies, Director for the Child & Family Center’s

Domestic Violence Program