“The Women’s Studies program is recycling. It isn’t a part of a green campus initiative, however. It’s meant to help victims of domestic violence. In conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Women’s Studies is collecting old cell phones through the month of October.”
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The Women’s Studies program is recycling.

It isn’t a part of a green campus initiative, however. It’s meant to help victims of domestic violence.

In conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Women’s Studies is collecting old cell phones through the month of October. The phones will be donated to the Battered Women’s Shelter in Akron.

Cell phones without service can still be used to dial 911, which can save the life of a woman in an abusive relationship, professor Pat Millhoff explained.

Millhoff is the director of Women’s Studies at the University of Akron. She has a lot planned in the next few months.

One of those events will be held on Friday night.

The Women’s Studies Program, in conjunction with the Rape Crisis Center and the Criminal Justice Association, will host the annual Take Back the Night march and rally. It is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on the first floor of the Polsky building.

Student Avril Thomas, a criminal justice major, will perform music at the rally.

Judge Alison McCarty, an alumna of the Akron School of Law, is scheduled to speak at 6:30.

A one-hour speak out will follow McCarty. Millhoff believes that by sharing stories, victims of sexual assault can help others as well as help themselves. Individuals can tell their stories by speaking out, she said.

Crimes of violence are often crimes of silence, Millhoff said.

Finally, participants will set out on a 1 mile march around campus and downtown Akron to take back the night. Throughout the evening, participants will be able to create a shirt as part of the Clothesline Project.

The Clothesline Project is an art display of shirts created by women who are survivors of violence.

Take Back the Night is an annual event celebrated around the world in the form of protests, rallies and marches. Participants protest sexual assault and violence against women.

The Akron YWCA started Akron’s Take Back the Night march and rally in 1983. Take Back the Night, however, might have much deeper roots.

Some believe that Take Back the Night dates back to 1877, when a group of women protested violence in London. Others, though, think it might date back to 1976, the date of a protest in Belgium. Protesters were attending the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women.

Regardless of its origins, Millhoff is a firm believer in the power of raising awareness. She is fond of a Henry David Thoreau quote posted on the Take Back the Night Web site.

It takes two people to speak the truth: One to speak and another to hear.

Millhoff is hopeful there will be a lot of people speaking the truth at Friday’s event.

Other planned events include a Feminist Mothering discussion, scheduled for Nov. 14, with a panel of speakers addressing issues such as breastfeeding and gender issues.

Millhoff has more in store for spring. Women’s Studies will host Cristina Page, the author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America.

The Women’s History Project, a yearly program, is also on the agenda, she said. Millhoff is also excited about the program’s course offerings, especially Gender and War and Feminist Pedagogy. Women’s Studies will also coordinate a Women in Leadership lecture series.

Women’s Studies is making significant strides, Millhoff said, with more students than ever involved in the program. Approximately 350 students are taking Women’s Studies classes or are enrolled in the minor or certificate programs.

Though Women’s Studies has just settled into its new home in Carroll Hall, it will relocate again. In December, the program will move to the ground floor of Schrank Hall.

Used cell phones can be dropped off at Carroll Hall, room 307, or in Polsky, room 161.

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