No more excuses. No more silence. No more violence.
On Wednesday, the Haven Project will hold its annual Take Back the Night march at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and stand against sexual assault. Take Back the Night is an internationally recognized cause with hundreds of events being held every year including marches and candlelight vigils.
The march will begin at 8 PM in the Putt-Delaney Courtyard and end with a speak out in the Ohio Room of the Hadley Union Building. The purpose of this speak out is to provide a space for survivors to talk about their experiences. It is one of the Haven Project's largest events and attracts several hundred people, including faculty, staff, and residents from the Indiana community.
"As one of this year’s event coordinators, I have been planning Take Back the Night since December," Amy Kinneer said, "There are many new things that we are doing this year. I have created a Snapchat filter that will be available to Snapchat users during the event."
This year, Student Organizations were asked if they would like to be a co-sponsor. By making a donation, their organization’s name would be included on the t-shirt. 49 out of 66 co-sponsors are Student Organizations.
"The most important part of Take Back the Night is letting survivors know that there are resources available and that we believe and support them and that they are not alone. I believe these issues are important because we need to realize that sexual violence can happen to anyone, anywhere. And it is never the victim’s fault. The change starts with us. It is time that we all speak out to stop the violence."
Kinneer encourages all IUP students, faculty, staff, and Indiana residents to attend this event and support victims and survivors of violence and to show that we do not stand for violence of any kind on our campus.
Below are two.....