It was the death of a sorority sister that brought Erin Weed to where she was last night.
Weed?s Alpha Phi sorority sister at Eastern Illinois University and best friend, Shannon McNamara, was murdered in her apartment on June 12, 2001, an event that has compelled Weed to embark upon a 20-campus book tour that visited Virginia Tech last night.
Weed was very energetic and her sense of humor was contagious. She kept the crowd laughing throughout the speech. The only time when Weed was not cracking jokes was while she explained her reason for becoming a nation-wide speaker. Her mission statement was inspiring, and it made for an attentive audience.
Weed said over half a million violent crimes occur on campuses annually. Seventy percent of these crimes occur at night.
?I think most women can relate to having the fear of walking alone at night,? said Brittany Rossmeier, vice president of programming for the Panhellenic Council.
The rest of Weed?s speech had a light-hearted tone. First she talked about her three-pronged approach to engaging in safe behavior: trust intuition, become a bad victim and learn how to fight. She outlined safety tips to follow out with friends, in the home, on the street, and on the Internet (particularly on facebook.)
Weed was filled with quips and catchy phrases. Her motto: ?There is nothing more dangerous than a pissed off woman.? She demonstrated with a three-step self- defense method. She labeled two gentlemen assistants with green stickers to highlight the debilitating ?hot spots.? Weed used the male volunteers to show the crowd a brief self-defense trio: palm strike, groin strike and ?hot spots,? like on the spine.
To conclude her lesson, she showed the audience how to turn household items into weapons. These ?weapons? ranged from high heels to school supplies. She gave advice on the best kind of pepper spray and the cheapest home security devices.
Weed received an overall great review from audience members.
?It was one of the best workshops I?ve ever been to,? said Tori Fellowes, sophomore university studies major and Alpha Phi member at Virginia Tech.
Claire Witmeyer, a junior English major and member of Tri Delta at Tech, praised the entertainment quality of Weed?s speech.
?Her humor was the best part,? Witmeyer said.
Jen Underwood, a representative from the Women?s Center, said, ?I liked the parts where she talked about violence in the context where people know each other.?
She notes that in most of the cases they see on campus, this is the case.
Weed?s first book is entitled Girl?s Fight Back: College Girl?s Guide to Protecting Herself.
Over 250 Virginia Tech students gathered in Old Dominion Ballroom in Squires Student Center. The event was sponsored by the Panhellenic Council, who paid $3,000 to bring Weed to campus. Brittany Rossmeier, Vice President of Programming, said the council saw Weed speak in Chicago and thought she was ?phenomenal
