Take Back the Night 2019 to be held on Georgia Southern Statesboro campus
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Take Back the Night 2019, a march and rally for individuals affected by sexual violence, will be held on the Georgia Southern Statesboro campus.
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February 22, 2019
Take Back the Night 2019, a march and rally for individuals affected by sexual violence, will be held on the Georgia Southern Statesboro campus on Feb. 28.
The event, organized by the Georgia Southern University Sexual Assault Response Team, will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Lauren Patterson, PhD, Sexual Assault Student Educators Adviser, and Gemma Skuraton, PhD, SART member and Health Promotions Coordinator, will serve as the masters of ceremony for this year’s event.
“A brief program will be presented by the Sexual Assault Student Educators and Health Promotions interns and graduate assistants. The program will provide education about sexual violence to attendees,” Patterson said in an email. “After the program, there will be an open microphone opportunity for survivors of sexual violence to speak about their experiences.”
The event will also include a march through campus in an effort to bring attention to the impact of sexual violence. The march will start at the University Store and end at the Rotunda and will be immediately followed by the End the Violence Rally. Last year’s event had more than 225 people in attendance.
“Take Back the Night is a long-standing tradition at Georgia Southern, but it is also an international movement dating back to the 1970s,” Patterson said.
Jodi Caldwell, PhD, Sexual Assault Response Team Chair, said that Take Back the Night has been a Georgia Southern tradition since at least 2003.
Patterson said she hopes Take Back the Night 2019 will provide an empowering experience for survivors of sexual violence and give them a safe place to tell their stories and receive support and acceptance.
“I also hope that individuals that have not been personally impacted by sexual violence will learn about the issue while providing support and allyship to survivors,” Patterson said. “I hope that everyone in attendance will leave Take Back the Night with a better understanding of what they can do to help reduce the incidence of sexual violence both at Georgia Southern and beyond.”
Anyone interested in attending Take Back the Night 2019 can visit the Facebook event page for more information.
Rachel Adams, The George-Anne Enterprise Reporter, ganewsed@georgiasouthern.edu
