Groups plan 5th annual Take Back the Night observance

Several campus groups will join the PSU Women’s Studies Club and the Crisis Resource Center of Southeast Kansas for the fifth annual Take Back the Night march and rally at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, at Pittsburg State University’s Timmons Chapel. Take Back the Night is an international event started in the 1970s as a means of calling attention to violence against women.

In addition to the Women’s Studies Club, student groups assisting with the event are the Sexual Assault Response Team, Men Against Violence Program, and Students Against Violence Through Education.

The evening will begin at Timmons Chapel. Just before it gets dark, participants will gather in front of the chapel to begin their march around campus. Chant guides will lead the participants. Organizers say the march is intended to help women feel empowered and safe in the streets at night.

This year's featured guest speakers will be Rebecca Reedy, president of the board of The Crisis Resource Center, and Dr. Kathleen Nichols of PSU’s English Department and former PSU Women’s Studies Club adviser. PSU student Krystel Pakitsos is the event’s featured musician. She will perform during the candlelight vigil at the University Lake to honor the victims and survivors of violence. Afterwards, there will be a survivor speak-out where survivors, friends of survivors, and others are encouraged to speak if they desire. No photography will be allowed the speak-out.

In conjunction with the Take Back the Night observance, the PSU Women’s Studies Club will present a check for $1,800 to the Crisis Resource Center. The money represents a portion of the proceeds from the club’s presentation of the “Vagina Monologues” in February. In total, the PSU Women’s Studies Club has raised more than $6,000 for The Crisis Resource Center of Southeast Kansas over the past three years. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds was donated to the 2007 V-Day Spotlight, “Reclaiming Peace,” which focuses on women in conflict zones.

The PSU Women’s Studies Club is a university and community organization that helps examine the diversity of women’s lives, experiences, and voices in our multicultural and globalized world through activism.

The PSU Women’s Studies Club is a university and community organization that help examine the diversity of women’s lives, experiences, and voices in our multicultural and globalize world through activism.

The Crisis Resource Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the adult and child victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking in the 10-county area of Southeast Kansas. Their services include but are not limited to: crisis intervention services, advocacy services, child exchange and visitation center, emergency transportation services for mothers and their families, referral services for medical treatment, and legal services.

For more information contact

Kylie Quick at 620-249-54595, kjquick@pittstate.edu
or
Goldie Prelogar at 620-704-2451, psuwomen@yahoo.com

---Pitt State---