Several events throughout the week will promote an end to sexual assault on campus while offering support to survivors.
A collaboration of organizations are looking to shed light on sexual assault and offer support to survivors through a variety of events this week for Take Back the Night.
Take Back the Night is organized by the Student Senate Women’s Affairs Commission and co-sponsored by the Women’s Center. The week offers several activities that focus primarily on self-care.
“Self-care is a top priority this year with the absence of the Ohio University Survivor Advocacy Program,” Women’s Affairs Commissioner Jessica Arnold said in an email. “I hope (the events) will provide spaces for survivor empowerment.”
The official kickoff for Take Back the Night Week was Monday at 8 p.m.
Events covering a variety of topics will continue throughout the week, such as a yoga class, an open mic night for survivors and bystanders, a conversation on LGBTQ identities and candle making.
Counseling and Psychological Services will be present at most of the events to offer support to any survivors who might need it, Arnold said.
The keynote address and the Take Back the Night March will be held Thursday at 6 p.m. in Scripps Amphitheater. The speaker will be Stephanie Gilmore, a former educator and writer who left the academic world to advocate for an end to sexual violence on college campuses.
“The Take Back the Night events, including the Take Back the Night march, are open to persons of all identities on campus and in the Athens community,” Arnold said in an email.
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Sarah Jenkins, the program coordinator of the Women’s Center, said Take Back the Night is for anyone who is a survivor, whether that be of rape, harassment or other kinds of sexual assault, to share their stories and for bystanders and others to stand on the sidelines and show their support.
“(Take Back the Night) is a really incredible event,” Jenkins said. “It’s really empowering. It’s a way of kind of reclaiming a space that’s been taken from us, and also giving people a chance to have conversations about why it’s important.”
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