October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and students are taking action this week.

Today marks the start of the Week Without Violence. Students’ efforts will give survivors a voice and a time to heal as a Coug family.

Men for Social Change (MSC), a social organization that encourages men to strive for social change, will begin the week by bringing activist, filmmaker, speaker, and writer Byron Hurt to campus.

“The purpose of Men for Social Change is to educate men on their position when it comes to social change that usually seen as a women’s issue, alone, and break that complacency,” said president of Men for Social Change, Almmanfil Oreta.

Hurt will discuss ways to eliminate all forms of violence from his perspective as an African American male. He will be speaking today at 5:30 p.m. in the CUB Auditorium. Admission is free.

Sister organization of MSC, YWCA of WSU, will hold the Clothes Line Project that will last all week. It is a project that hits home to our campus because it gives a chance for allies and/or individuals who were or are a victim of violence on to write down thoughts, feelings and/or experiences that occurred here at WSU.

YWCA’s mission is to eliminate racism and empower women.

For anyone who wants to get involved, YWCA welcomes volunteers to help with the 200-plus shirts that need to be put up and taken down every day on Glenn Terrell Mall.

“We out put up the shirts every day, so Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. and the take down at 4 p.m. so we definitely need help from the WSU community,” Kimberly said.

Participating organizations for the Week Without Violence are YWCA of WSU, Men for Social Change, Black Women’s Caucus, Black Men Making a Difference, Association of Pacific and Asian Women, and Coalition for Women Students.

Reporting by Jamie Jones