By: Franklin Zessis
The Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct hosted a cardmaking workshop Friday afternoon to help University of Maryland students identify healthy and unhealthy relationship traits.
The group met in Studio A in the basement of the Stamp Student Union. The workshop’s goal was to help students recognize a healthy relationship with oneself and a romantic partner.
“With Valentine’s Day season, people don’t focus a lot on self-love,” graduate criminology student Alessia Shaw said. “People need to take some love with them everywhere. Learning about it and talking about it with a similar group of students is very important.”
According to their website, OCRSM addresses all reports of discrimination and harassment based on “race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, religion, protected veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic.”
“I think it’s a good learning opportunity to learn more about consent,” marketing major Neeharikha Satrasala said. “It’s also really fun because it’s a good way to end the week.”
The workshop explained what consent means and looks like in a healthy relationship, and students discussed how they can incorporate more healthy relationship traits into their own lives.
During the discussion, students broke out into groups of three or four and spent about 10 minutes discussing what healthy relationships look like in their lives.
“I was able to learn about other people’s experiences and learn more about healthy relationships – not just relationships itself, like a relationship with myself,” political science major Joanne Kang said.
At the end of the event, students made their own cards that helped promote any healthy relationship, whether with themselves or someone else. Students could use a variety of stickers and various coloring utensils to decorate their cards.
“[My card] sums up to: keep going, it’s a good day, the world is better with you in it,” Shaw said. “It’s very important because we can be our own worst critic.”
Featured Image: Students gather to learn about signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships on Feb. 16, 2024 in Studio A in Stamp. Photo by Franklin Zessis.