“Take Back the Halls” Offers Solutions to Escalating Problem

More than 61 percent of teenagers nationwide have endured emotional abuse in relationships, according to a recent Liz Claiborne, Inc. “Take Back the Halls (TBTH): Ending Violence in Relationships and Schools,” a DePaul program operating in three Chicago high schools, is aimed at educating students about domestic and relationship violence, and training them to combat it in their communities.

The curriculum and program development are the work of Professors Irene Beck and Beth Catlett, of DePaul’s Women’s and Gender Studies program, and Heather Flett, a social worker and long-term domestic violence advocate who runs Taking Back Our Lives, the partner organization for Take Back the Halls.

TBTH operates as an after-school program in Roberto Clemente Community Academy, 1147 N. Western Ave.; Nicholas Senn High School, 5900 N. Glenwood Ave.; and North Lawndale College Preparatory, 1616 S. Spaulding Ave. The program curriculum spans 14 subjects and includes presentations on “Power, Control and Oppression,” “The Culture of Violence,” “Gender Socialization,” “Self Esteem/Self in Relationships,” and “Sexual Violence,” to name a few.

“We cover them differently at each school,” explained Flett who serves as curriculum facilitator for the program. “It just depends on what stage students are at in the beginning.”

According to both Flett and Catlett, there has been an increase in focus on preventing teen violence in the past five to six years, yet few programs are designed, as TBTH is, to shape activists and leaders in the areas of teen and domestic violence.

DePaul graduate and undergraduate students, as interns, facilitate the sessions at the three high schools, while fulfilling community-based service learning requirements and earning academic credit through a course entitled “Teen Violence Prevention.”

Amanda Speck, a graduating senior at DePaul and a sociology major, has worked this entire academic year in the program at Senn High School. In a typical week, while paired with a trained domestic and sexual violence prevention advocate, Speck co-facilitates student discussions on topics such as the messages they receive about sex from media and institutions, including school, church, family, friends, television and movies.

She assisted students in creating and implementing community service projects. For the boys at Senn, that meant creating T- shirts to sell, emblazoned with slogans like “Girls respect guys who respect girls.” The proceeds will fund an organization that fights violence against women and children.

“It is totally transformative for DePaul students,” said Catlett, who has seen about two dozen students pass through the program, many of whom decide that they want to continue working with young people on issues related to violence even after they complete their course and service learning requirements.

According to Dana Limberg, a teacher at Clemente, the school in which the program was first piloted, the rewards are even greater for the high school students. “Teen violence is a big problem here, especially verbal mistreatment of each other,” Limberg said. “For some kids, it’s how they relate to each other. The program provides an opportunity to analyze what’s happening in school, in their lives and to learn how to be community activists.”

After-school programs in general are challenging because many students work or have other obligations to fulfill. However, Clemente’s continuing gang problem affords it little opportunity for a before- or after-school culture. Yet Limberg said that a small group of students have remained committed to the TBTH program for the entire academic year and have formed positive bonds as a result of their involvement. They have also experienced improvements in self-esteem, are more independent, and are prepared to tackle problems in their communities.

Even though the numbers of students participating in the program are small at all three schools, the results from the program impact the schools on a larger scale due to the activist nature of student projects, such as the T-shirt fund-raising drive at Senn and dramatic skits and spoken word performances conducted by students at the other schools.

In addition to expanding into more schools next year, the duo is also considering ways to reach younger students. “We’re looking at the possibility of expanding into a middle school next year,” said Catlett. “High school may be too late for prevention,” added Flett. “The idea is to teach them the skills before they start dating.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of DePaul’s Women’s and Gender Studies program. Catlett and Beck head several programs that fall under the Women and Gender Research Initiative of the university. The initiative was recently cited in March by the Illinois Board of Higher Education as a best practice due to its uniqueness and applicability to other institutions.