If ever you have walked alone at night you know that feeling — the feeling that someone may be following you, only to look back and see no one there.

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If ever you have walked alone at night you know that feeling — the feeling that someone may be following you, only to look back and see no one there.

Maybe there is someone there and they seem to be getting closer and closer the faster you walk. You finally reach your destination and take a breath of relief that, at least for tonight, you made it home safely.

As some of you are reading this may be aware, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the organization Liberation in Progress (LIP) and the students of the class Women and Resistance have decided it is time to take a stand.

Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Student Union Ballroom A, the students from Women and Resistance and LIP have joined forces to present the University’s first-ever Take Back the Night.

The night will be filled with speakers, a march through campus and activities all with one focus in mind. Take Back the Night raises awareness of violence against women, an ever-present issue that continues to grow especially around college campuses.

Take Back the Night is an organization that held its first event in Philadelphia in 1975 and has been growing ever since. Their mission statement is simple: Shatter the Silence, which is based on the belief that the power of speaking out can do great things.

Typically, violence such as rape, sexual assault and domestic violence are often considered crimes of silence, and Take Back the Night hopes that by breaking the silence, they will create a ground where people can feel more comfortable with reporting and speaking out against their crimes. Breaking the silence lets other people who fall victim to these crimes know that they are not alone, which in turn tells others that these crimes will not be tolerated.

As Henry David Thoreau once said, It takes two people to speak the truth: one to speak and another to hear.

For more information about Take Back the Night, visit UA’s Take Back the Night event page on Facebook. To read about the Take Back the Night foundation, visit their website at www.takebackthenight.org.

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