Students carried homemade signs as they marched along Convent Road to
generate awareness about the issue of sexual abuse. |
More than a hundred students marched across campus on April 19 in a Take Back the Night rally to generate awareness of dating violence and sexual abuse. The march started in St. John Neumann Circle on campus. From there, students marched silently along Convent Road to the Buoni Building and back again, crossed the street and circled the Mirenda Center for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development, and ended in the Schmidt Multipurpose Room in Living and Learning Center I.
There, the group heard special guest speaker Bill Mitchell from Kristin’s Krusades and held a candlelight vigil.
Take Back the Night is a nonprofit organization, the aim of which is to end sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and all other forms of sexual abuse.
Students also hosted a Clothesline Project, which originated on Cape Cod, MA, in 1990 to address the issue of violence against women. It is a vehicle for women affected by violence to express their emotions by decorating a shirt. They then hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of violence against women.
Earlier in the year, Neumann Media produced an “It’s On Us” video about sexual assault. Watch it here: www.neumann.edu/about/news/news15-16/ItsOnUs.asp
Hundreds of colleges hold a Take Back the Night event in April, which is sexual assault awareness month.