Women’s Center to Host Take Back the Night Event

Written by: Lizandra Portal / Contributing Writer

Sexual assault is more common on college campuses compared to other types of crimes.

Among undergraduate students, 23.1 percent of females and 5.4 percent of males experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence or incapacitation, according to a report from the Association of American Universities on sexual assault and sexual misconduct.

Despite the high numbers of sexual assault victims, the AAU has also found that college-age victims of sexual violence often do not report the incidents to law enforcement. Only 20 percent of female student victims aged 18-24 report sexual assault to law enforcement, according to the Department of Justice.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the FIU Women’s Center will be hosting a discussion panel called “Take Back the Night” to help raise awareness on sexual assault and sexual violence.

The event will take place on April 18 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Graham Center Ballrooms and is open to students, community members, staff and faculty of the university at no charge.

“It’s great that we have a sexual assault awareness month in general because sexual assault is such a taboo subject,” said Daniel Pino, a Psychology major.

Pino, lead peer educator at the Victim Empowerment Program that works under Counseling and Psychological Services, says the program is meant to help people who are victims of not just sexual assault, but of any type of victimization.

“It’s nice to have a program that helps students with those types of issues,” Pino said. “But we also help students who have friends who have been victimized.”

The “Take Back the Night” event is geared toward helping students who are not aware of how prevalent the issue of sexual assault is and help them get informed.

“We are providing them with all the tools they need to help stop sexual assault,” said Amy Rodriguez, a graduate higher education administration major.

Rodriguez is one of the students working in the Women’s Center helping organize the event.

“We want students to come out of the event knowing what sexual consent is,” Rodriguez said. “We want them to educate their friends and community members of what they learned.”

“Take Back the Night” was started in 1877 and was originally supposed to be a march and rally for sexual assault awareness but it has grown a lot since then, according to Rodriguez.

This will be the 13th annual “Take Back the Night” event at the University, but instead of a march and rally, it will be a panel discussion this year.

“This year we are going to have a sexual assault survivor as one of the speakers,” Rodriguez said.

The FIU Police Department and a moderator from the Victim Empowerment program will also be guest speakers. Rodriguez also mentioned that the Women’s Center is trying to confirm two guest speakers from the Nancy J. Cotterman Center, which provides crisis counseling and deals with victims of human trafficking and a guest panelist from the LGBTQA Initiatives under the Multicultural Programs and Services.