Sexual Assault Awareness Month is initiated by the Student Government Association who partnered with the Women’s Center, Clothesline Project, and Take Back The Night (TBTN). The events were hosted throughout April to raise awareness about sexual assault. The events included tabling to raise awareness, campaigns, vigils, and movie nights before ending with a Divas in Defense event at the FAC on April 22.

On April 2, there was a table in front of Boulder that had resources available for students interested in learning more about sexual assault through handouts, magnets, and pens that listed resources for survivors and their allies. There was also an eye-catching quilt that had patches made by students last semester to help raise awareness. The table also gave out free Rita’s Ice to students.

A TBTN Survivor Vigil in the fourth floor programming room was hosted on April 3. The Vigil consisted of survivors of sexual assault sharing their stories, along with poems and meaningful songs. Afterwards, people marched to the quad and finished with a reflection.

Marian Fazio ‘19, the president of Take Back the Night, hosted TBTN Survivor Vigil with the help of the Counseling Center. “Take Back the Night is a sexual assault awareness and prevention organization, we are always working to create new programs that can help educate the community about what they can do to either help prevent sexual assault or also to help to support survivors of sexual assault because we want to acknowledge that there are survivors on our campus and that we are here to stand with them and support them.”

The Counseling Center is a great resource on campus for any survivors of sexual violence. The services provided include individual counseling, group counseling, and a variety of support groups.

Take Back the Night and the Counseling Center would like all survivors to know that “we hear you, we see you, we believe you.”

The Gender and Sexuality Studies Club presented a film on April 4.

The Gender and Sexuality Studies minor is ”designed to help women and men students bring academic rigor and depth to their academic interests, and to help them identify connections between their experiences and the experiences of others throughout history and across racial/ethnic, economic, and cultural contexts”

To learn more about sexual assault or report an incident of sexual assault, visit this website.

For more information or interested in getting involved with Take Back the Night, email Marina Fazio at [email protected].

For more information about the Gender and Sexuality Studies minor, check them out online at https://www.loyola.edu/academics/gender-sexuality-studies

Look out for more events being hosted throughout the month of April.

Photo Courtesy of Greyhound News