The Purple Carnival is brought back annually by the University’s Center for Health Education and Promotion. This year, the event was hosted on Oct. 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., in the Student Memorial Center Promenade.
The event is designed to emulate a carnival-like experience for students, where learning about information and resources for students is rewarded with prizes. Alongside popcorn and cotton candy, students were able to play different games of ring toss, ping pong games, spin the wheel, and many more, to then answer questions or label myths surrounding domestic violence, sexual assault, and more.
Different organizations were present to offer services and inform students of their resources. This included Health Services offering free flu vaccinations, Title IX offering t-shirt tie-dye to those who went up to ten tables, YWCA Lancaster informing students of their 24/7 sexual assault hotline, and more.
Other notable organizations were The Body Project, a program focusing on discussing body image and culture surrounding body ideals, Green Dot, an initiative that promotes bystander prevention strategy, as well as Domestic Violence Services of Lancaster, who provide an advocate on campus for dating and domestic violence on Tuesdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
River Hower, a student present on behalf of Green Dot, spoke about important information regarding bystander prevention.
“One of the biggest things to take away in terms of the Purple Carnival is that even if you don’t feel comfortable directly stepping in, you can call for help. You can call campus police or you can create a distraction,” Hower said. “There are a bunch of different methods to make sure that people around campus are safe, even if you don’t feel comfortable stepping in yourself. And it’s always important to make sure our fellow students are safe.”
Miguel Pereira, the Title IX Coordinator at Millersville, explained how students can support the message of stopping domestic violence and making students more aware.
“I think our institution has done a great job of that. I think also making sure that you understand our resources and if you don’t ask somebody else where to get those resources, I would also say about our It’s On Us chapter that’s here at Millersville,” Pereira said. “It’s On Us is a national organization and non-profit that talks about sexual violence prevention on college campuses. I would say we’ve had over 800 people take our pledge in the last 10 months, which is pretty significant, and that’s not even including today’s event.” Pereira said.
To learn more about the different health initiatives that the Center for Health Education and Promotion puts on, you can find out more on their Instagram @millersville_chep.
