Bridgewater, Va- On Monday, Oct. 21, Bridgewater College students received an email from Shannon Pope, the Director of Student Wellness and Title XI Coordinator. The email provided students with information about Red Flag Week, which began that day and ended on Friday, Oct. 25. The email revealed that Bridgewater College had displayed red flags and posters throughout campus. 

Bridgewater College’s “Red Flag Campaign in particular focuses on unhealthy relationships, dating violence, and domestic violence,” Pope explained.

The Bridgewater College club,  BC United, held various events that focused and educated students further on the topic.

“The Red Flag Campaign was brought onto Bridgewater’s campus in 2007, which happened to be the same year the campaign itself took place,” said Pope.

The campaign comes from an organization called Action Alliance,whose goal is to combat sexual and domestic violence in Virginia.

On Tuesday, Oct. 22, and Wednesday, Oct. 23, BC United offered students sweet treats and information to help learn more about the red flags and green flags in everyday relationships.

On both days, students were asked what they considered to be examples of a red flag in a relationship and a green flag in a relationship. “Those red flags are the ones that make us pause for a moment, and can be deemed as unhealthy,” said Pope.

Some signals of red flags in a relationship can include excessive jealousy or not allowing someone to see their friends. Another would be total isolation, causing them to give up on being around other people. Overall, stalking can be a major red flag in relationships, especially an individual is being “harassed to the point of fear” stated by Pope.

Pope said “You want to have an open and honest relationship and talk to your partner, and overall a comfortable pace in the relationship.” Pope explains that this is a key factor of having a healthy relationship, whether if it’s a friendship or romantic.

On Thursday Oct 24, the local non-profit organization Strength in Peers was on campus along with Virginia’s Department of Health. The organizations offered free HIV and Hepatitis C testing in the Boitnott Room. 

That evening, BC United held a discussion based on media and its influences on relationship culture. This event discussed examples of fictional relationships seen on television.  

Some examples were “Rachel and Ross from Friends and Danny and Sandy from Grease,” These examples analyzed whether the relationships are healthy or not.

Pope shared how it is still difficult today to get students to speak up about this issue, but would like to remind students that the people who can help with issues like these “are not scary and students will not get into trouble for speaking up.”