Take Back the Night week will be from April 13 to 17.
An open meeting held in Athens Public Library on Tuesday night discussed Take Back The Night week, which will be April 13 to the 17th for students and community members to “reclaim the streets” of Athens.
The week commences in a march where individuals take to the streets in solidarity to combat assault, rape and violence.
Last year was the first year Ohio University’s march was inclusive, where men, women and individuals who do not identify with a specific gender could march. This year’s march will be gender inclusive to make the event as visible as possible, said Madison Koenig, a senior studying English literature and the Women’s Affairs Commissioner for Student Senate.
“By reclaiming a public space and publicly declaring yourself as a survivor, you’re refusing to let society tell you that you should be ashamed of what someone else has done to you,” Koenig said. “So by reclaiming public space, people are refusing to be silenced and refusing to be shamed.”
The march includes sideline supporters and marchers. The members of the meeting discussed the importance of making the two separate roles specifically defined.
To help further define these roles, it would be helpful to take a moment prior to the march to set intentions for both roles by having an explanation read aloud, said Sarah Fick, a community member and program coordinator for the Sexual Assault Prevention Program, during the meeting.
The attendees of the meeting discussed different events to take place the week of Take Back the Night but also the importance of outreach to community members.
Having the meeting in a public place rather than on campus is a good step in getting the community involved in the discussion, said Fick, after there was not much dialogue regarding the decision of inclusion last year.
“I think its super important because all the upset feelings that happened last year and how over the years it’s become more and more of a university event,” Fick said after the meeting. “I am really excited about the idea of making it more of a collaborative effort between community women and university women.”
Attendees discussed moving the location of different events to make it more accessible to the community, such as moving the self-defense class to a spot off-campus, Fick said during the meeting.
Initially, a ceremony to burn names of assaulters was set to follow the march, but it became a topic of concern because the march typically is empowering and burning the names of abusers can be scary. At the ceremony to burn the names, having multiple advocates available for anyone in need is important to help further the healing process, said Alyssa Ensminger, a sophomore studying biology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, during the meeting.
Instead the group discussed the possibility of having music after the event, which would be fitting because of the amount of adrenaline following during the march, Ensminger said.
Another point of discussion was reaching out to the Greek community on campus.
Oliver Stone, a sophomore studying English and Psychology, isreachingout to Greek organizations for involvement in Take Back the Night week to create strong support for the event.
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