Come 'Take Back the Night'

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The 10th annual Northwest Arkansas “Take Back the Night” march and rally will be held Friday, April 20. The events are organized by two University of Arkansas groups, and the campus and Northwest Arkansas communities are invited to attend. Activities include a gathering at the Fayetteville Square and a march down Dickson Street to the Arkansas Union, followed by a candlelight vigil and musical performances.

The purpose of the event is to assert that all human beings have the right to be free from sexual violence, the right to be heard and the right to reclaim those rights if they are violated. Thousands of “Take Back the Night” marches and rallies have taken place worldwide over the past ten years. This event is part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week on the University of Arkansas campus.

“Violence is a community issue,” said Mary A. Wyandt-Hiebert, director of STAR Central at the University of Arkansas. “‘Take Back the Night’ is designed to create awareness, to empower individuals and to inspire action that will foster community change and bring an end to [sexual] violence.”

The Pat Walker Health Center peer education group, Rape Education Services by Peers Encouraging Conscious Thought (RESPECT), a program of the Office of Support, Training, Advocacy, and Resources on Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence (STAR Central) invites the community to attend and speak out against violence and sexual abuse. 

Scheduled events for the 10th annual “Take Back the Night” march include:

6:30 p.m. – Begin gathering at the Fayetteville Square, Arvest Plaza

7 p.m. – Opening remarks, including a proclamation read by Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan

7:15 p.m. – March from the Fayetteville Square to the Central Quad in front of the Arkansas Union by way of East Street, Dickson Street and across the university campus.

8 p.m. – Closing activities at the Central Quad.

Activities at the Arkansas Union include remarks by Angela Oxford, director of the Center for Community Engagement, a speak-out, a candlelight vigil, and performances by several singing groups.

Commemorative “glow-in-the-dark” T-shirts are available for $10 per shirt at the Pat Walker Health Center and at the event while supplies last. Proceeds benefit campus rape awareness and prevention education.

Also, on display at the Central Quad during the march and throughout the following week will be the Fourth Flag Project. Based on the national statistic that 1 in 4 college women are sexually assaulted while in college, the Fourth Flag Project will consist of 2,824 flags, each representing every fourth female student enrolled at the University of Arkansas based on fall 2011 enrollment statistics. “The display is a powerful image of the prevalence of sexual violence that plagues college women,” said Wyandt-Hiebert.