Today kicks off Take Back the Night week, a weeklong event to raise sexual awareness, and this year's event hopes to bring women of all ages together through one common thread: empowerment.
Organized by the women's affairs commission of Student Senate, Take Back the Night this year focuses on empowerment because there's so many different women in this world
and they all deserve respect said Sally Neidhard, the women's affairs commissioner for Student Senate.
You don't know what empowers somebody. For me if a woman is genuinely happy taking care of her family and making a beautiful household
if that is what empowers her
that is phenomenal
Neidhard said.
Neidhard began the initial brainstorming of this year's week last summer, and planning really took off last quarter, she said. The week includes annual events such as Sexual Assault 101 ' a crash course in the different types of sexual assault ' and the Take Back the Night rally and march. Also included this year is an interactive mock trial.
Sponsored by the Sexual Assault Prevention Program of Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling, the mock trial is a rape case where a woman believes she was drugged and raped, said Lindsey Daniels, Sexual Assault Prevention Program coordinator at Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling.
A jury will be selected from the audience, and each side will present its case to the jury and audience members. The jury will come up with a verdict, and after their decision is reached and presented, the audience will view an 11-minute video about what really happened.
I think that the particular details of the case involving drinking and going out is something that can really ring home to at least the college campus
Daniels said. (The mock trial is) just an interesting idea.
Janet Carleton, a digital initiative coordinator at Alden Library, has been an active participant in Take Back the Night since the late '80s when she was an Ohio University student. She said she is really excited about this year's mock trial because Take Back the Night has never had an event like this. The entire week is a really good awareness event
she said.
There are a variety of events throughout the week that all revolve around sexual assault awareness, and Neidhard said she hopes people will walk away from an event with a different perspective on something that they haven't had before.
Honestly
Take Back the Night last year changed my life. It really made me look at so many different things in different ways
she said.
