The water in the fountain of the John B. Begley Chapel will run teal and lanterns will be released from the Lindsey Wilson College Campus Quadrangle on the evening of April 21 to help raise awareness about sexual violence.
The activities are part of the college’s fourth-annual “Take Back the Night,”, which begins at 5 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 21, on the Campus Quad. The event, sponsored by the LWC Women’s Student Union, is free and open to the public.
“We’re hoping to get some of the community members involved,” said LWC Women’s Student Union President Chelsea Dermody of Fairdale, Ky. “This is a subject that’s not only important for college students to be aware of but community members as well.”
“Take Back the Night,” which dates nationally to the 1970s, has two main purposes, according to LWC Associate Professor of English Kara Mollis.
“First, is to take a collective stand against sexual violence, on and beyond college campuses,” said Mollis, who is adviser to the LWC Women’s Student Union. “And second, it’s to provide important information about sexual violence itself, as well as information about information available to students.”
This year’s LWC “Take Back the Night” event will be the college’s most ambitious.
“This year, we’re having (Hannah Sewell) a woman from a documentary called The Invisible War. She’s going to come speak to us,” said LWC Women’s Student Union Vice President Suzy Pitman of Monticello, Ky. “She was in the military and was assaulted.”
The April 21 event will also include a paper lantern release, refreshments and door prizes. LWC Assistant Dean of Students Andy McAllister, who is the college’s Title IX coordinator, will also speak.
The Adanta Community Mental Health Center’s will also provide information about sexual assault.
“We feel that it’s so important to work with college students, as they are a population at high risk for being sexually assaulted,” said Heather Hurt-McAninch, victim advocate for Adanta Sexual Assault Resource Center.
Also on April 21, the water in the Begley Chapel fountain will be dyed teal, the color of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which is also in April.
“One of the most important aspects of ‘Take Back the Night’ is providing information to students,” Mollis said. “Oftentimes, there’s a culture of silence surrounding the issue of sexual violence, not only on college campuses, but in the country itself. So it becomes one night a year where we talk openly about the problem of sexual violence. We talk about different forms of sexual violence; we talk about resources.”
