On the brisk autumn morning of Oct. 18, the Ithaca College Community laced up its sneakers near the natural lands by Terrace 13 in the largest crowd yet for the annual IC Runs Purple 5k Run + Walk, hosted by the Office of Public Safety.
The air buzzed with anticipation as faculty members, community members and IC families prepared to take off for the annual event dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the Tompkins County Advocacy Center in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Sergeant Bryan Verzosa, an officer at OPS and organizer of the IC Runs Purple 5k, said the event began as a campus initiative by OPS to revitalize the pathway between the Circle College Apartments and Terraces. Verzosa explained that the initial switch to placing their attention on Domestic Violence Awareness month began five years ago, around this time of year.
“Our first year started off light, people-wise, but we had about 20 participants,” Verzosa said. “Now, being our fourth year running it, it’s actually going to be our largest one. So we’ve got about 40 people signed up already.”
Verzosa said this growth helps bring the topic of domestic violence awareness to light and brings the community’s focus to an important issue that, at times, goes unspoken about.
The Tompkins County Advocacy Center, the primary beneficiary of the event, is a free and confidential resource to individuals affected by abusive behaviors from all different backgrounds. The organization has a long-standing partnership with IC to bring education about prevention awareness to students and staff, offering different educational workshops and open conversations to help the campus identify and respond to domestic and dating violence.
A study from PubMed Central reports that the issue of dating violence impacts about 20-30% of college students in the United States. These statistics highlight the need for education and prevention efforts on college campuses.
Alex Kabat ’24, the campus educator of the Tompkins County Advocacy Center, is a local advocate who works closely with all college campuses throughout the Tompkins County area, spreading awareness around domestic and dating violence.
“When I’m coming in, I’m doing a lot of prevention education work, just letting people know about our agency, what we do, because we found that a lot of students don’t know that we exist,” Kabat said.
Along with education prevention, Kabat emphasised that the Advocacy Center functions as an institution separate from the college and is a resource open to students who may feel apprehensive when contacting campus resources.
Kabat said that events like the IC Runs Purple 5k allow students to connect with the community on a heavy topic in a lighthearted day of fun, allowing them to place their real-life advocacy work into action.
This year’s 5k run was not just about running; it was about visibility. Across from the finish line, a colorful clothesline displayed T-shirts bearing handwritten messages of strength, survival and hope. This display, which is a part of the national Clothesline Project, served as a powerful reminder of why these conversations matter.
Kristi Taylor, the director of Ithaca’s WenDo women’s self-defense chapter and longtime advocate for survivors, said that the Advocacy Center was first created in the 1970s as a way to support women who felt they had no way out of abusive situations.
“The whole big story is that our local suicide prevention hotline was receiving a number of calls from women specifically experiencing domestic violence who felt that they had no other options at the time,” Taylor said. “Some of the women from that organization got together and said, ‘We have to do something, women are feeling like their only way out is to die by suicide.’”
Taylor’s reflection on the center’s beginnings highlights the ongoing importance of community-driven action, the very idea at the heart of the IC Runs Purple event.
For many participants, this partnership was felt in every step. Among the runners was Amel Gerardi, a parent of a first-year student, who said events like this provide comfort to him as a parent sending their child away to college.
“I feel very good about sending my daughter here because I could tell that the school cares about safety and cares about the people and puts their students first,” Gerardi said.
As each runner crossed the finish line, students, parents and community members gathered near the display of shirts, cheering on each participant as they took their last stride in the race. The mood was empowering and connecting, a moment that captured the spirit of what organizers said they hoped to achieve.
“I don’t know exactly how much we’ve raised so far this year, but as of yesterday, we had over $600 raised, which is more than we have every other year in the past,” Verzosa said. “So it’s amazing, and I’m sure we’ve probably crossed over $1000 now.”
Following the end to the event, organizers from OPS confirmed they have raised a total of $1,114, which is over double what has been raised in prior years, with a total averaging around $500.
As the morning wrapped up, participants gathered with their friends and families with smiles on their faces, comparing running times and carrying a sense of accomplishment and community.
