Domestic Violence activist to speak
at URI's Honors Colloquium

KINGSTON, R.I. -- October 10, 2000 -- Local advocate, Kendra Marasco, will speak on "Domestic Violence: Public Issue, Not Private Trouble" as part of the University of Rhode Island's fall honors colloquium series, "Nonviolence: Legacies of the Past, Bridges to the Future." She will draw on her extensive background to talk about the history and the future of the movement against domestic violence in Rhode Island.

Marasco will speak in the Barry Marks Auditorium, Room 271 of the Chafee Social Science Center on URI's Kingston Campus, Oct. 17 from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Marasco began as a hotline volunteer at the Elizabeth Buffum Chace House in 1987. By 1995, she had become executive director of Sojourner House in Warwick. She chaired the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence Legislative Committee for two years, served on the Violence Against Women Act Planning Committee, and helped develop standards for Batterers Intervention Programs.

Marasco now serves on the board of directors of Sojourner House and teaches courses on violence against women at Providence College.

The evening will begin with a performance by the Rhode Island Feminist Chorus. A member of the chorus said about their music: "There will always be music; no matter the cause, no matter the movement, music has been a constant-through struggle, during change, and in celebration. When a few of us decided to get together about 20 years ago, each of us were in different stages of life, but there were at least three things we shared: a love of singing, a commitment to change rooted in feminist principles, and a belief in music as a medium through which to make those changes. Two decades later, our journey continues."

URI's colloquium series runs Tuesday nights from 7:30 to 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

For Information: Lynne Derbyshire, 401-874-4732,
Arthur Stein, 401-874-4059, Jan Sawyer, 401-874-2116,
Jennifer Smith, 401-874-2116