Tusculum College’s annual “Take Back the Night” event is set for Friday, April 13, 7 p.m. in the Library Bowl. It is an Arts and Lecture series event for residential students. The guest speakers are Della Nicole McGuire, M.Ed. (Survivor of domestic abuse and founder of empressland.org) and Annabel Massey ’10. Also featured will be a vocal performance by Voices Against Violence President Kimsie Hall. an athletic training major from Cleveland, Tenn.
“Take Back the Night” is an event that has occurred around the globe for more than 30 years as a protest against violence against women and an opportunity to reclaim the night as a time when women can be safe. Rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse and domestic violence are often labeled “crimes of silence” because of low reporting rates and social discomfort/stigma with their public discussion. The “Take Back the Night” event allows and invites survivors (men and women) of sexual assault, rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse to “shatter the silence” by sharing their experience with others in the audience. The event includes a speaker who was a victim but has become a survivor and “thriver”, songs and poems by students appropriate to the topic, the introduction and explanation of Tusculum College’s Sexual Assault Response Team and information about a free Crisis and Recovery Center in Jonesborough.
The evening will conclude with a candlelight vigil in which the audience is invited to honor a victim or survivor that has experienced this type of violence.