February 18, 2004

Take Back the Night takes new direction

Amy Miller
Copy Editor

Take Back the Night, Xavier’s student-run organization that raises awareness about violence against women, will begin an advocacy component to its services, said club leader and senior Amanda Corzine.

The advocacy component is being added in hopes that through peer education, Xavier students will face fewer occurrences of sexual assault and dating violence, and be more equipped to deal with them, should such problems arise.
“The club decided to change its focus because we wanted to take a more proactive approach to ending violence against women,” Corzine said. “Our current programming was only reaching those who were already informed about sexual assault and dating violence. The peer education format will help us reach all genres of students, and possibly even community groups.”

The decision to change the focus of the club comes after much thought and discussion. Members decided on the change early this semester, and are now in the stages of training members to become peer educators. The first two sessions have already taken place. During these sessions, club members held discussion panels with Dr. Christine Anderson, the club’s faculty advisor, and Dr. Carolyn Jenkins, a member of the Social Work faculty, Sylvia Bessegato, associate vice president for student development, Chief Michael Couch and Officer Ken Grossman of Campus Police.

“On-campus resources like Campus Police will help us understand current university policies,” Corzine said.

Additional training sessions are being held Saturday from 11-4 p.m. and Monday from 8-9 p.m. Speakers at these sessions include representatives from Women Helping Women and University Hospital’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program.

Prior to changing its focus, Take Back the Night held events before the annual Take Back the Night march and rally in downtown Cincinnati, including an open mic night, workshops about domestic violence for women and men and “Swear Off Makeup Day” to celebrate everyone’s natural beauty. The club will continue these events in addition to the peer education component. For more information, contact Amanda Corzine at x5997.