Dear Prudence,
I recently ended a yearlong relationship after my boyfriend became physically violent. I have learned a lot about the mental gymnastics I put myself through to stay in the relationship, but I am finding it very hard to objectively decide if I should report him to my university for domestic violence. The assaults weren’t severe but they did happen multiple times. He also once destroyed my property and physically prevented me from exiting a car. I want to report him to create a record and prevent this from happening again, but I worry that I might be overreacting. I don’t want to ruin his life but I don’t want to further minimize his actions.