Ten years ago, victims of domestic violence only had the End Violent Encounters shelter in Lansing to go to for safety, but that changed when MSU first lady Joanne McPherson helped create MSU Safe Place.
The MSU community shelter is celebrating 10 years of expansion, outreach and intervention. MSU Safe Place was created in 1994.
Domestic violence describes a situation when one partner in a relationship has power over the other - emotionally, economically, physically or otherwise.
Originally, MSU Safe Place offered shelter, community education and support in the form of counseling. With increased funds, however, the group has expanded in the last five years to include advocacy programs, such as finding employment, childcare and housing and providing support during legal and court issues.
"Advocacy is what everybody needs if they are being abused," MSU Safe Place Director Holly Rosen said. "They may need counseling, they may need shelter - but everybody needs advocacy of some sort."
Rosen said with the advocacy program, MSU Safe Place is still in touch with women who left the shelter four or five years ago. This is very different, she said, from the beginning of the program when women and children were moved in and out of the five-day, eight-bed shelter.
Today, MSU Safe Place provides 12 beds and allows victims of domestic violence to remain for 30 days, sometimes longer depending on the situation.
The shelter has also adapted to the needs of the international university community by translating resource sheets. This provides students, or their spouses, who do not speak English with access to information, said Peggy Arbanas, the adviser in the Office of International Students and Scholars.
About 70 people come to the shelter per year, Rosen said, but during the 10 years, only three men took haven at Safe Place.
The program also connects with 20,000 people through community outreach and provides services for 50-100 people each year.
The shelter is funded from the university, fund raising and grants from Capital Area United Way and the U.S. Department of Justice. The initial annual budget of the program was $100,000, but it now usually ranges between $250,000 and $300,000. Because MSU President M. Peter McPherson and Joanne McPherson are leaving the university, Rosen said she doesn't anticipate the extensive support the shelter now receives, but expects the program to remain functional.
"We are a campus-based program that is widely supported by the community," Rosen said. "I have no doubt that Provost (Lou Anna) Simon will support our efforts."
Jayne Schuiteman, personal safety coordinator at the MSU Women's Resource Center, said shelter is important on a large campus.
"This is the size of a small city, and the same issues that affect city people's lives affect the university community," she said. "This includes sexual assault, violence, and discrimination."
To contact Safe Place, visit the office G-55 Wilson Hall or call the 24-hour crisis line (517) 372-5572 or the business line (517) 355-1100.
