A majority of dating violence cases among students happens while at college, according to the creator of the viral domestic violence movement Why I Stayed.

“57 percent of college students who report experiencing dating violence said it occurred during college,” said Beverly Gooden, a survivor of abuse.

Gooden shared this fact from the National Domestic Violence Hotline during her speech on Nov. 9 in the Skutt Ballroom.

On Sept. 8, 2014, Gooden tweeted her reasons for staying in an abusive relationship, along with the hashtag #WhyIStayed in response to a video that TMZ posted showing Ray Rice, who played for the Baltimore Ravens at the time that the video was recorded, punching his wife. Within one hour of tweeting, Gooden’s hashtag was trending on Twitter.

Gooden said that she tweeted about her own experiences with abuse to give others who are experiencing abuse a voice and an opportunity to share their stories and to connect with others.

Gooden now travels the country sharing her own story of surviving abuse while informing others of the signs of abuse in friends and family as well as giving advice to victims on how to overcome abuse.

Mattie Smyth, Vice President for Programming of the Creighton Student Union and a junior College of Arts and Sciences student, oversaw Gooden’s visit and worked with one of her coordinators in partnership with the VIP Center and Green Dot. Both programs brought Gooden to campus under CSU Program Board’s Creighton In Common position.

“This position seeks to bring the Jesuit Identity and Mission to life in the form of purposeful, values-based programming to create dialogue around sensitive issues,” said Smyth.

In addition to sharing her own and others’ stories of abuse, she also shared statistics about abuse that came as a shock to some Creighton students.

“If 57 percent of abuse happens during college, then at least half of the women you know are experiencing this in some form right now,” said junior College of Arts and Sciences student, Megan Smock, who was present at Gooden’s speech. “This seems unacceptable to me, and it is something that needs to change.”

Gooden was brought to campus to start a conversation at Creighton and to assist in bringing about this change.

For more information on this subject, contact the VIP Center on Creighton’s campus.