Skip to main content


Repost Message
will copy the article into draft mode and enable you to edit/change dates and information.
Do not change the dates
of this posting because it will affect the original.

MCC Daily Tribune

President's Wednesday Message

On this Valentine's Day, I invite you to have a heartfelt conversation because together, we can change the statistics around relationship abuse one conversation at a time. This is the mission of the One Love Foundation in honor of Yeardley Love. One Love exists for one reason: Yeardley Love, a student-athlete at the University of Virginia, was killed by her ex-boyfriend and her death was avoidable. If anyone in Yeardley's life had truly understood the unhealthy and increasingly dangerous relationship behaviors they were seeing, she would be here today. Education takes a conversation.

MCC student-athletes are starting this important and difficult conversation right here on our campus so that they can identify unhealthy relationship behaviors before it is too late. Earlier this month, 22 MCC student-athletes completed training to facilitate One Love's Escalation Workshop, a film-based workshop that opens participants' eyes to the warning signs of relationship abuse. Then, over 150 student-athletes gathered in the gym to watch the Escalation film and participate in a guided discussion led by their peers.

Of the student-athletes completing the assessment following the workshop, 98% felt that they now understood the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy relationship, and 98% would recommend the Escalation workshop to a friend. Why? Let them tell you in their own words:

  • Because all people should be in a safe relationship
  • My friend is in an unhealthy relationship
  • It's helpful to notice the signs
  • Made me very aware
  • It was eye-opening
  • It's a wake up
  • Because it can help them not only now but in their future relationships
  • It is really important information

Students at the Downtown Campus are having these important conversations about healthy and unhealthy relationships, too. This week, through a collaboration with RESTORE Sexual Assault Services and MVP-MCC (Mentors in Violence Prevention), students participated in One Love's #BehindThePost--a program that explores the 10 warning signs of an unhealthy relationship--and an Escalation Workshop.

To bring the Escalation Workshop to your department, class, or student group, contact Kristin Lowe or Katie Nicholas. And, mark your calendar for April 19th as MCC participates in the SUNY-wide campaign called "Around the World for Yeardley." Details will be coming soon.

If our students can start this potentially life-saving conversation, you can, too. Need help? Here are some resources:

How to help a friend who may be in an abusive relationship

5 Essentials to having a healthy relationship

Pledge to #LoveBetter

94% of us will never perpetrate violence against our partner, yet 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men are in a violent relationship in their lifetime because we stay silent about this issue. Let's not be silent anymore. This Valentine's Day, show how much you care by starting a conversation.

Please feel free to share your thoughts & ideas on the blog.

Anne Kress
President's Office
02/14/2018