University News
Take Back the Night Rally is Oct. 16
October 6, 2014
MACOMB - As part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Western Illinois University Women's Center and the Western Illinois Regional Council-Community Action Agency (WIRC-CAA) Victim Services Program, along with numerous campus and community offices and organizations, will hold the 25th annual Take Back the Night (TBTN) march and rally Thursday, Oct. 16. This year's theme is "Shatter the Silence: End the Violence."
The event is held each year to increase awareness of, and seek to end, dating and domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and other forms of sexual and interpersonal violence, as well as to remember and honor victims and survivors. The University Counseling Center and WIRC-CAA Victim Services staff and volunteers will be available at the march and rally to talk with participants if needed.
The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the south end of Hanson Field, with resource table displays by campus and community offices and organizations providing violence prevention efforts and support services to victims and survivors, as well as sales of T-shirts and light sticks.
The rally will begin at 7 p.m. with a reading of the proclamation signed by WIU President Jack Thomas and Macomb Mayor Michael Inman, followed by featured speakers, performers, a survivor speak-out and additional remarks by campus and community resource providers.
This year's guest speakers will be WIU women's studies Professor Holly Stovall, who recently spoke about her own sexual assault as a junior high student on Tri States Public Radio, and WIU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tommy Bell, who will speak about recent rulings by the NCAA regarding sexual assault, as well as domestic violence issues currently in the national spotlight.
Performers at this year's event will be WIU students John Contreras, a graduate student from Chicago; Mandy Rae Fairbrother, a graduate student from Centerville, MN; Leslie Ducay, a graduate student from Covington, WA; and Tuesdai Perry, a senior from Gary, IN, as well as Macomb High School student Brianna Petty, who will be singing songs which are uplifting, affirming and empowering to interpersonal violence survivors and their supporters.
Following the rally, the march will begin in the parking lot south of Hanson Field and will go east on Murray Street, south on Albert Street, east on Adams Street, south on McArthur Street, east on Carroll Street, and end in Chandler Park. Anyone who would like to participate but is unable to walk the route may contact the Women's Center prior to the march to sign up to ride in a van that will be provided.
Participants may buy light sticks for $1 each. Take Back the Night T-shirts will be $10 for WIU students and $12 for non-students. In addition to being available at the rally, these items are available at the Women's Center, Multicultural Center, room 209, and will be sold in the University Union Concourse from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Oct. 7-9 and Oct. 13 and 16.
The WIRC-CAA Victim Services agency provides free and confidential services in a safe environment for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Hancock, Henderson, McDonough and Warren counties. The agency's trained staff provides emergency services, advocacy, counseling, professional training and public education.
For more information, contact WIU Women's Center Director Janine Cavicchia or graduate assistant Alondra Olvera at (309) 298-2242 or WIRC-CAA Victim Services at (309) 837-6622, or email j-cavicchia@wiu.edu or a-olvera@wiu.edu.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing
Connect with us: