Blacksburg's 18th annual Take Back the Night Rally and March will be held on Thursday, March 29 to bring the community together to reject violence against women and promote awareness of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors which perpetuate this violence.

Individuals are invited to assemble between 6 and 6:30 p.m. on the Drillfield (in front of the War Memorial Chapel) on the Virginia Tech campus. The rally will be held between 6:30 and 7 p.m. At 7 p.m., participants will march through campus and downtown Blacksburg, returning to the Drillfield for a closing celebration. The route is accessible for persons with disabilities; rain location is 3100 Torgersen Hall.

Women and men of all ages are welcome. Each participant is asked to wear a purple ribbon tied with a knot for every friend or family member who has been sexually assaulted. Ribbons will be worn throughout Women’s Month to show support for victims and to protest sexual violence against all people. Purple ribbons will be available at information tables before events during Women’s Month and weekdays at the Women’s Center at Virginia Tech, located at 206 Washington Street.

The first Take Back the Night event was held in Germany in 1973 in response to a series of sexual assaults, rapes, and murders. Five years later in the United States, a Take Back the Night march was held in San Francisco in which more than 5,000 women from 30 states participated. Since then, marches have been held in cities throughout the world. In Virginia, Take Back the Night marches have been held in Richmond and Charlottesville, and at Hollins University, Radford University, Roanoke College, and Virginia Tech.

The event is part of Virginia Tech’s Women’s Month 2007 and is sponsored by Amnesty International, Health Advocates, Montgomery County NOW, Sexual Assault and Violence Education by Students (SAVES), Sexual Violence Prevention Council, Womanspace, Women’s Center at Virginia Tech, Women’s Month 2007 Advisory Committee, Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley, and Women’s Studies Program.

For information, contact Susan Anderson at 540-231-8041 or 951-2013.

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