EVENTS: Take Back the Night & Union Square Park Speak Out
Two events that all students are encouraged to attend. Please let your friends know.
Thursday, April 19, 2007: Take Back the Night - on campus
Friday, April 20, 2007: NYC Annual SAYSO!
April 19, 2007: Take Back the Night
8pm — Take Back the Night march (Barnard Hall)
10pm — Speakout (McIntosh)
We march because we should be able to wear whatever we want.
We march because men are survivors too.
We march because domestic violence is a problem in all communities.
We march because family and friends share the pain.
We march because no one should have to be afraid.
Tonight is a night of survival in the most active sense of the word.
We shout to combat the silence that is forced upon us.
Join us for Columbia University’s annual march against relationship
and sexual violence, Take Back the Night. We will meet in front of
Barnard Hall at 8pm on Thursday, April 19th. The speakout will
follow and last as long as people stay. We invite you to come to any and
all parts of the march and speakout.
Food will be served. Free childcare is available.
Tonight is a night of unity.
We march because we recognize only together can we break the cycle
of violence. With rage we march and with strength we speak.
–Please direct questions or concerns to tbtn@columbia.edu
–If you are interested in marshaling, please visit our tables in
McIntosh and Lerner from the 16th-19th
–T-shirts will be on sale from the 16th-19th in McIntosh and Lerner
- - -
Jenn Tierney
NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault
MEDIA ADVISORY
CONTACT: Jennifer Tierney
Tel: 646-522-3766
Email: jtierney@nycagainstrape.org
RAPE VICTIMS SPEAK OUT IN NYC
*Lack of forensic evidence does not mean a sexual assault did not happen*
*Most victims never report the assault*
(April 16, 2006—New York, New York) Despite the chilling effect of the Duke rape case on rape victims’ willingness to come forward, this Friday rape survivors will publicly tell their stories.
Starting at noon April 20 in Union Square Park, for the next 12 hours NYC survivors will tell their stories of rape out loud, on stage. Part vigil, part community event, the Sexual Assault Yearly Speak Out (SAYSO!) will end the silence around NYC’s epidemic of sexual violence.
It is estimated that last year alone more than 22 thousand women and seven thousand men were sexually assaulted in New York City. Most of these cases are never reported to the police. An average of 1,700 rapes are reported to the NYPD every year.
The city’s rape crisis programs tell another story: In one year alone, NYC rape crisis programs received more than five thousand calls, with more than a thousand children receiving services for sexual assault.
The purpose of the SAYSO! is to raise public awareness about the silent norm of sexual violence in our city. To openly acknowledge that most sexual assaults are perpetrated by people the victims know and trust. To say out loud that we know someone affected by sexual violence. To say that we want it to stop.
The SAYSO! is spearheaded by the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, a coalition of rape crisis centers and service providers.
For more information, call Jennifer Tierney, NYCASA, Tel: 646-533-3766; email: jtierney@nycagainstrape.org; http://www.nycagainstrape.org/saam_2007.html
