Service-Learning
and the East LA Women’s Center Support Denim Day at
CSULA
When it comes to the campaign to
raise awareness about sexual assault and support peace
over violence, CSULA service-learning students and their
community partners are on the front lines. Celebrating Denim Day on April 25 as
part of the International Sexual Assault Awareness Month
were two women who learned the importance of this issue
while performing community service at the East L. A.
Women’s Center, which offers many services, including
the first free and
confidential Rape and Battering
Hotline in Spanish to citizens of Los Angeles. Iris
Aceves, a senior completing graduate studies in English,
first became involved in raising awareness about sexual
violence following the unpopular
1999 verdict of an
Italian judge, who dismissed charges against a 45-year
old rape suspect because his 18-year old victim was
wearing jeans at the time of the attack. Now a fulltime volunteer at the Center, Iris
partnered with Robin Paredes, a senior in Sociology and
Chicano Studies and Co-Chair of the campus club Mujeres
Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS, Women Active in
Letters and Social Change), to staff the booth. Students visiting the booth created denim pins
while Iris and Robin shared with them information about
services available on campus and at the Center.
Both women credit their
service-learning experiences as students in sociology and
health and human services classes with inspiring their
commitments to peace over violence and to the prevention
of sexual violence. They especially credit the guidance of volunteer
coordinator Sonia Rivera and the staff of the East L.A.
Women’s Center. A
committed partner to the university’s Educational
Participation in Communities (E.P.I.C) program, which
places service-learning students in agencies throughout
the county, the East L.A. Women’s Center has been
recognized throughout the state for its 30 years of
service. As Sonia, who has served on the CSULA Service
Learning Advisory Council since its inception in 2001,
commented: “Once our volunteers come here and see the
issues, they become so involved they want to keep giving
back.” That
certainly happened for Iris and Robin.
