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Lafayette’s annual Take Back the Night included a campus talk, a candlelight vigil, and a march and “speak out” on campus on April 23.
Sponsored by Association for Lafayette Women, the event was open to the community.
A speaker from Turning Point of Lehigh Valley gave a talk 7-8:30 p.m. in the Farinon Center snack bar. The nonprofit group provides services in Lehigh and Northampton Counties to over 3,000 victims of domestic violence each year.
A candlelight vigil followed for about a half-hour on the steps of Farinon. At 9 p.m., a march and “speak out” on campus began.
“The mission of the event is to raise awareness on our campus about the issue of sexual violence, or violence of any kind,” says psychology major Kim Rubenfeld ’03 (Somerset, N.J.), event organizer. “Take Back the Night was started in Europe in 1976 and now takes place across the world as a sign of empowerment and support.”
According to the U.S. Justice Department, there are 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend annually. Estimates by the Commonwealth Fund’s survey of women state that three million women are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year. Nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, according to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey. Nearly 25 percent of American women report being raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date at some time in their lifetime, according to the National Violence Against Women Survey, conducted from November 1995 to May 1996. The Center for Policy Research states that 78 percent of stalking victims are women, and women are significantly more likely than men (60 percent and 30 percent, respectively) to be stalked by intimate partners.
Kim Rubenfield ’03 (front) chaired the April 2003 “Take Back the Night” event which included a candlelight vigil and a march to raise awareness about sexual assault. She was assisted by Amanda Roth ’03 (center) and Jessica Jamhoury ’03.