Color run promotes campus safety

After taking a semester of marketing at IU, Jill Behrman realized her passion was fitness.

She dropped her second semester business classes and switched to what is now known as the School of Public Health. She worked in the equipment room in the Student Recreation Services Center, and it was at the SRSC where she realized she wanted to pursue a career in recreational sports.

Since her disappearance in the summer of 2000, Behrman’s parents and the SRSC have held an annual 5K run to raise awareness of violence in the community.

The 14th annual Jill Behrman 5K Color the Campus race will take place Saturday at the SRSC.

This is the race’s second year as a “color run,” a race in which participants run through “color zones” and are splashed with handfuls of vibrant powder.

Sponsored by IU Campus Recreational Sports, the race exists to honor Behrman and all others who have been victims of violence while promoting campus safety.

Senior event management and hospitality major Amy Wood worked on the JB5K Color the Campus student steering committee last year. The SRSC hired Wood to take on a larger leadership as Rec Sports Special Events and Sponsorship Program Assistant this year.

“Color runs alone are popular,” Wood said. “If that’s what you can get people to come to, that’s how you can spread awareness.”

The first year’s race had about 1,500 participants, 700 of whom showed up the day of the race, SRSC Service Director of Evaluation, Special Projects and Special Events Christine Geary said.

For the first 12 years, participant numbers staggered between 1,000 and 1,300. Last year’s JB5K color run brought participation up to around 1,900, Geary said.

The committee and the SRSC expect to have more than 2,000 participants this year, about 100 more than last year.

“It’s awesome to see a sea of white lined up at the start line,” Wood said. “When you see all the people and color, you see the true spirit of IU.”

Volunteers will shower participants with cornstarch super-charged colored powder at each color zone while 17 IU Police Department officers help direct traffic, Geary said.

Geary interviewed for a position at the SRSC around the time Behrman was reported missing. She has worked on the JB5K with the Behrman parents since 2000.

“Jill was an employee of ours and an enthusiastic one,” Geary said. “We wanted to have an event that embodied Jill’s spirit, an event that she would have wanted to have ... Our initial efforts were to keep her visible.”

The SRSC uses JB5K money to fund the Jill Behrman Emerging Leader Scholarship as well as assault awareness and self-defense workshops, according to the SRSC website.

“There are so many people who have been victims of violence,” Geary said. “Anything we can do to raise awareness and keep them in the spotlight, we’ll do.”

IU’s Raas Royalty and various Indiana University Dance Marathon groups will perform at Saturday’s race.

Behrman’s parents Eric and Marilyn have helped plan and organize the JB5K since its inception on a frigid October morning, four months after Jill’s disappearance.

“We had on long pants and jackets and gloves because it was so cold, and yet all of these people showed up anyway,” Marilyn Behrman said. “So many people cared enough to come out ... It was just amazing. It’s helpful as a parent to know that people care.”

As the JB5K Color the Campus run helps keep Jill’s name in the spotlight, the race helps the Behrmans celebrate their daughter.

“Life goes on,” Marilyn Behrman said. “What happened to Jill was horrible, but that is not Jill. I want to remember the real Jill. Those memories are precious to me.”

Experiencing the JB5K with students keeps the Behrmans from dwelling, Marilyn Behrman said.

“Any time I get a chance to interact with students, it feels like I’m making a difference,” Marilyn Behrman said. “I think I’m a better mom because I’m involved. Those times become special memories too.”

Bloomington is a community and its members must look out for each other, said Geary.

“It’s hard to make a hugely meaningful impact in a one day event,” Geary said. “We need to create an environment that’s safer.”

Follow reporter Hannah Alani on Twitter @hannahalani.