Several departments across campus are participating in the initiative focused on relationship violence.
Several departments across Texas Tech University are partnering with the One Love Foundation for the school's inaugural One Love Week this November. Texas Tech will host events throughout campus each day from Nov. 9-14. The activities involve speaking with students, faculty, staff and student-athletes and will wrap up with the Kansas State – Texas Tech football game.
Chloe Barnes, director of student-athlete affairs, formed the initiative this summer.
“I went to the NCAA Life Skills Symposium this summer and all of the practitioners were speaking about hot topics across the country in intercollegiate athletics,” Barnes said. “During the conference there was a presentation on the One Love Foundation, which is an organization centered around healthy relationships and domestic violence prevention education. After hearing that presentation and seeing how One Love had already made such an impact on other campuses, I knew we had to bring the organization to Texas Tech.”
The initiative will include 46 Texas Tech students who are involved in different departments on campus, including Athletics, Fraternity & Sorority Life, Mentor Tech, Risk Intervention & Safety Education and the School of Law. Students received training on Sept. 30 from Zoe Skinner, a program coordinator for educational initiatives at the One Love Foundation, about giving relationship violence workshops to their peers.
One of the student-athletes participating is men's basketball player Toddrick Gotcher. Gotcher already has graduated with his bachelor's degree in exercise and sport sciences. He is pursuing a master's degree in sports management, where he is set to graduate in December, and sports media, where he is expected to graduate in August, while the upcoming season marks his senior year on the court.
“I chose to get involved in One Love Week because it was an opportunity I couldn't miss,” Gotcher said. “I want to help advocate against domestic violence. The initiative will get awareness out to Texas Tech students, faculty and staff about preventing abuse around relationship violence.”
Sheena Geevarghese, a senior psychology major and student facilitator, is involved in Mentor Tech and one of the founders of Tech Kahaani, a student organization that performs Bollywood dances.
“Domestic abuse is real, and it happens more than you think it does,” Geevarghese said. “One Love is a powerful movement I think every student should be a part of. It starts with just one person being more aware of their surroundings. Join us, and together we can stop relationship violence.”
One Love Foundation was founded in 2010 and works with young adults across the country. The focus is raising awareness about the warning signs of abuse and to change statistics involving relationship violence. Other schools partnered with One Love include Duke University, the University of Alabama and Vanderbilt University.
For more information on One Love, visit its website.