Take Back the Night

NSU hosts annual event to stop domestic violence and sexual abuse

Kristine Belizaire: Current Affairs Editor

Issue date: 2/5/08 Section: Current Affairs

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Domestic Violence Kills

On Tuesday, Jan. 22, NSU held its sixth annual Take Back the Night Campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence and abuse.
Take Back the Night has its roots all the way back in 1877, when women in London, England, began to protest the fear and violence that they felt when walking the streets at night. It is also believed that the first rally occurred in 1976 when women attending the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women in Belgium began to walk in the streets to denounce violence against women.
Several projects were put into play in conjunction with Take Back the Night, including The Clothesline Project - a visual display of shirts with graphic messages designed by women who have experienced abuse or know someone who has been abused. The shirts are now on display in the Alvin Sherman Library.
Other projects mentioned during the event were the Cell Phone Project and Shoe Project. A cell phone drive was created to help women and children who need help and can call 911 on the cell phones they receive from the project. The cell phones are donated to the organization, Women in Distress. The Shoe Project presents the statewide statistics of those who are victims of domestic or sexual abuse. The shoes are donated by members of the NSU community who drop off the shoes in designated drop off areas on campus. All the shoes collected will be donated to a local charity.
Stephen Wilcosky, NSU head volleyball coach and host of the event, was honored to be a part of such a cause, and hoped that the event would invigorate others to become part of the solution to stop abuse.
Gay Holliday, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, also addressed the audience. Holliday spoke about the impact of sexual abuse on campus, saying that it is a "pretty critical role in this institution." Since the death of NSU student Nichola Seegobin, who was murdered in 2005 by her ex-boyfriend, NSU strives to increase awareness about domestic and sexual abuse by honoring Seegobin annually at Take Back the Night. In closing, Holliday urged attendees to come forward if they or someone they know are or had been victims of abuse so that they can get started on taking back their lives.
Another speaker at the event was Staci Narkier, Domestic Abuse Program Coordinator for the Jewish Family Service of Broward County. Narkier shared a personal story with the audience about a young woman who reclaimed her life after being gang-raped by two men, including a co-worker. When the young woman reported the rape, she suffered humiliation by her forensic examiner, was ignored by the legal system, lost her job and was shunned by people she thought were her friends. In the end, however, she realized that she was a survivor.

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