One in five teenage girls will be a victim of physical or sexual assault by the age of 18, Lori Murphy, told a 40-person crowd in Castle Commons last night. Murphy serves as the director of Outreach and Education for the Support Committee for Battered Women, and joined other speakers to facilitate discussion about violence on campus.Katie Kieran '03 organized the "Forum on Interpersonal Violence at Brandeis" after she found a defaced Counseling and Rape Crisis Hotline poster in the laundry room in Castle Quad in September; she said she felt that something needed to be done in response to the "anti-woman" comments, and she talked to people around campus about the issue. Kieran drew on several campus groups - including the Committee on Rape Education, the Women's Resource Center, BiSpace and the Brandeis Anti-War Coalition -- to sponsor the event.

"I knew this was happening on campus, and I got really fed up," she said. "I think gun violence is the flashy form of violence and you hear about it a lot on the news, but it is interconnected with verbal violence and with people not respecting one another. Every form of violence that you take against someone, whether or not you call them a name or you write something on their message board, that creates a climate of fear on campus."

Participants first broke into small groups and discussed scenarios and brainstormed possible reactions a bystander could, would and should take. "It's important to be angry," one student said in reaction to a hypothetical situation that involved a male at Pachanga harassing two other men dancing together.

Daniel Ludevig '06 facilitated the activity, and said the discussion made people want to react to situations. "I thought it was really strong, positive feedback from everyone, especially guys," he said. "If you looked around the room, most of the people answering were guys and that's really, really awesome to see."

Administrative Sergeant Bette Reiley said she hopes students confronted with that scenario or the others presented would inform Public Safety of a potentially dangerous situation on campus.

Audience members discussed ways that bystanders could help alleviate the situation without endangering themselves.

"That clearly is a tenet of our culture - to mind our business and not interfere, particularly in interpersonal relationships," Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett said.

Bennett asked students not to shy away from questions that "sound provocative or ill-informed," calling the forum a safe space. "The only dumb questions are questions that don't get asked," she said in the beginning.

Reiley said that two incidents of domestic violence have been reported at Brandeis this semester, both within the first month. "The majority of things that happen at Brandeis are crimes against property, not crimes against a person, so I guess in that respect we're pretty lucky," she said. "But, people joke about the 'Brandeis bubble,' - that once you come (to) Brandeis, things are not going to happen - that you're not going to be the victim of a crime, that you're not going to be assaulted or raped, but it does happen. People need to be aware of it."

Michelle Zietler '01, who volunteers for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) and was a counselor on the Brandeis Counseling and Rape Crisis Hotline, said that most incidents of sexual assault, particular on campuses, are perpetuated by an acquaintance.

"Most often, abusers are abusive to the one person," Murphy said. "Abusers are Jeckyl and Hyde. They have the public persona and the private persona, and they can sometimes be the best guys, the nicest guys, the sweetest guys in the world. But, when the doors close and they're alone, it's totally different."

Zietler said that abuse in same-sex relationships can present other challenges. "Assault can be even more difficult for people who identify as GLBT to report," she said, asking the audience why that may be.

One woman said that a victim of same-sex violence may not want to stigmatize the GBLT committee, while another said that the person may not want to be "blacklisted" from it. Others said a victim who is abused by a same-sex partner may fear authorities or peers will not believe the allegation under the assumption that women do not rape women or that men can defend themselves against other men.

"A lot of this (discussion) is focused on violence against women, because I work for a battered women's shelter. But, I say all the time, violent relationships are not always a man assaulting a woman. Most often, stats range from 85 to 95 percent of the time, it is a man assaulting a woman," Murphy said. There are forms of nonphysical abuse, she added, stressing that domestic violence transcends gender and socio-economic divides.

"I make it very gender neutral, but it's not really a gender neutral issue, is it?" Murphy said.

Abuse begins on average one year after into a relationship, she told the audience. "Nobody ever takes you out on a first date and punches you, or calls you a stupid bitch," Murphy said. "You wouldn't get back together."

Speakers offered resources to help friends who may have been the victims of rape or assault, and emphasized that a victim be empowered - that incidents of assault or rape leave the victim feeling powerless.

"This may mean that you don't say to the person, 'Well I think you should do this, this, this and this.' But, maybe saying to them, 'This would be an idea,' " Zietler said.

"One of the most empowering things we can do for our friends is be aware of community resources and be able to tell people what those resources are," Bennett said.

"They used to call children who were witnessing domestic violence, child witnesses to domestic violence and now they're changing the language," she said. "People are calling it 'child exposure.'" Growing up in a house where domestic violence occurs is the Number 2 cause of post-traumatic stress disorder. "Number one is being sexually assaulted," Murphy said. "This is a public health crisis."

"Somebody said earlier, 'I think anger is a useful tool.' I agree with that -- if it's safe," she said. " She added that she does not advise labeling the abusers behavior to the victim because it may alienate the person being abused and discourage them to seek solace in others because they may feel judged.

Murphy added that domestic violence victims take an average of seven tries to leave an abuser, and that they are 75 percent more likely to be murdered right after leaving than before.

"One in three women are affected by domestic violence," Murphy said. "This is not just a women's issue. It's a human rights issue, I truly believe that.