Anti-Violence Rally Taking Place On Campus

After having many friends affected by domestic violence and sexual assault, Susan Anderson has become a part of the national event called Take Back the Night.

“I just want people to know that objects are easier to hit than people,” said Anderson, the faculty advisor for Take Back the Night.

Take Back the Night is a rally and march which first took place in Germany in 1973 and was brought to the United States five years later in San Francisco, Cal., when over 5,000 women from 30 states came to participate.

This is the 19th annual Take Back the Night at Virginia Tech.  Just as it was used in Germany, Take Back the Night is here to protest violence against women and promote awareness of attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that perpetuate this violence.

The event is free and begins at 7 p.m., March 27 with a rally on the Drillfield in front of War Memorial Chapel.  The march will begin at 7:30 p.m., and will go through campus and downtown Blacksburg before returning to the Drillfield to close it out.

During the rally, representatives from the Women’s Center and survivors will speak about domestic violence in the community and what resources are available.

Anderson said the march is arranged to call the town and campus’s attention to the fact that something is happening and encourage others to do something about the problem.  The march always follows a different route and is handicapped accessible.

Lastly, the closing ceremony will give people tools and other information on how they can stop the violence.

“I like the concept of Take Back the Night,” said Lizzy Carraway, a freshman at Virginia Tech and co-coordinator of the event.  “It's a global event that we bring into our own community to show our dedication to a world-wide initiative to end violence and sexism.”

Womenspace, Men of Respect at Virginia Tech, Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley and many more organizations have spent the past months organizing the events and meeting to discuss how each part will be handled from the route of the march to the ribbons that will be handed out at tables.

Anderson hopes to see a great turnout.  “It will be a great day when we won’t need this or the Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley because then we’ll know that there is no more problems.”