The final event for the Advocacy Center’s Take Back the Night campaign will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Hendricks Chapel.

Take Back the Night is an international event for faculty, students and community members to speak out against interpersonal violence against all genders, races and ages. Wednesday night’s event will include a free-of-charge rally, march and speak-out session.

Janet Epstein, director of the Advocacy Center, said Take Back the Night is an avenue for the student body to get involved in ending sexual violence on campus.

‘Our student committee has really spearheaded these events,’ Epstein said. ‘It comes from their understanding of sexual and relationship violence and prevention, and they formed this in a way that we hope will connect with other members of our community.’

More than one in four college women are victims of sexual abuse or assault every year, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report. The Advocacy Center at Syracuse University is a place where students who have been abused or suspect abuse of a loved one can receive counseling and medical or legal assistance, Epstein said.

‘People see these as private issues, but the reality is that it affects everyone,’ Epstein said. ‘If somebody is being abused and other people know about it, there are ways that we can create an environment that doesn’t allow that abuse to go on.’

The rally at Hendricks Chapel will feature keynote speaker Tiffany Braley, LGBT outreach coordinator at Vera House in Syracuse. After the rally, there will be a march on Marshall Street. The speak-out session will be held at Hendricks as well, and it give students a private place to express how sexual or relationship violence has affected them personally. All students are welcome to the events.

The Advocacy Center tabled in Schine Student Center on Monday and Tuesday, Epstein said. Students came by and added their handprints to the Hands Against Violence fabric. This project consists of a piece of fabric covered in handprints and signed names, with each hand representing a promise to not participate in sexual violence.

A Men’s Issue, a student organization affiliated with the Advocacy Center, also held its third annual ‘Breaking the Silence to Stop Violence’ event in Schine on Tuesday.

‘That event brings together groups from campus to perform around the theme of bringing people together to prevent violence,’ Epstein said.

The exact time of origin of Take Back the Night is unknown, but Epstein said she got involved when students approached the Advocacy Center, then known as the R.A.P.E. Center, in 2002 and asked for sponsorship for Take Back the Night events at SU.

‘We made a pledge to these students that we would keep the project going after they graduated,’ Epstein said. ‘That first year we had 60 students attend, and this last year we had 1,500.’

Epstein said she hopes to fill Hendricks Chapel again at this year’s event.

‘It is up to all of us to create a community that doesn’t tolerate sexual and relationship violence, but instead models respect,’ Epstein said of the motives behind Take Back the Night. ‘This event brings large groups of people together to say that if we all work together we can really make change.’

sjtaddeo@syr.edu 

Published on April 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm