Reported by: Kayla Murphy

A brand new club has just started here at SUNY Oswego. Their name is Team One Love.  On campuses all across America, groups such as Team One Love have begun the conversation that is set out to recognized and provide resources for victims of dating violence.

This issue is one that a lot of people are not aware of happening, when in reality, it is happening all around. 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men are going to experience dating violence in a relationship during their life time. 50% of those 1 in 3 women and 40% of those 1 in 4 men are going to experience it between the ages of 18 to 24. That is the age of your average college student.

I spoke to president and founding member of the Oswego chapter of Team One Love, Amanda Kenney to learn more about the group and their mission towards a dating violence free community. “Team one love is each campus becoming a team in this effort to end relationship violence… So it’s just people joining together to end relationship violence and to get the word out and raise awareness in hopes of changing the statistics”.

Team One Love was founded in 2010 in honor of Yardley Love, who was murdered by her former boyfriend. Yardley’s mother and sister started the organization to raise awareness about relationship violence in hopes to stop future women and men from being a victim. The Oswego chapter started just last week and already has upwards of 300 members on the team one love website.

Team One Love will be hosting an event “Yards for Yardley” on May 4^th. Different athletic teams / Greek life groups and individuals will be competing to cover the most amount of “yards” to raise awareness about relationship violence. More information can be found on their website – JoinOneLove.org/Oswego.

Chris Mintz.

That is the name of the student at Umpqua Community College who was shot five times in his attempt to save others from a gunman who went on a shooting rampage on the school’s campus.  During the aftermath of the horrific shooting at the College, participants on social media have called for the widespread recognition of Mintz while stressing the importance of not popularizing the shooter.

The shooter has been identified as 26-year-old Christopher Harper Mercer, and the father of one of the victims said that during the shooting, Mercer intentionally targeted Christians.  While it is unclear why he targeted the college specifically, it was reported that he went into at least two different classrooms.

A total of ten people were killed during the incident, with seven others reported as injured. The father of one of the victims stated that the gunman went into the classroom, and said (to the professor) “I’ve been waiting to do this for years” and then shot the professor point blank.  Other reports say that he ordered “Christians” to stand up and then would shoot them when they emerged.

The gunman was reported dead earlier Thursday.

Chris Mintz is a 30-year-old military veteran and student of Umpqua Community College.  According to claims, he attempted to block the door to prevent the gunman from coming into the classroom, and was shot three times.  He then looked up at the gunman and stated “It’s my son’s birthday today”, to which he was shot at least two more times.  While it is still unknown exactly how many times he was shot, it is reported that both of his legs are broken.  He remains in stable condition at Mercy Medical Center.

President Barack Obama released a statement after the incident in which he indirectly pushed for stricter gun control laws, stating, “Somehow this has become routine,” he said. “The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this.”

This incident is just one of the many that continue to seem more and more common in the United States.

In situations like this, it is important to publicize not the gunman, but the heroes like Chris Mintz.

*Quotes recorded from CNN.com*