With October being Dating and Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the annual Take Back The Night event was held at Fiske Quad on Thursday, Oct. 10.
The Dean of Students Office holds this event to unite students and community members to show their support.
Catt Workman, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) program director and sexual violence prevention specialist at Keene State, organized this event with the help of Keene State’s Office of Student Diversity, Belonging, and Equity.
“Take Back The Night has been a cornerstone event and tradition on campus for a while now,” Workman said. “In previous years, participation and engagement has been lower than we wanted, and being new to my role, I really wanted to make October and April special and have a big event for those months.”
Workman continued, “I just went to a federal conference, and one thing I think is really cool that makes Keene State unique is that one of my counterparts voiced frustration that their campuses have not been supportive of their additives, and I got to humbly brag about Keene State. I could not be more pleased with the support I received from KSC.”
Students at the event were able to show their support for victims as well as support their community. Keene State sports teams also came out to support this event. The event had speeches, hot chocolate, music, a candlelight vigil and therapy dogs.
Several students shared their experiences and thoughts. Students approached the stage to address their perspectives; one talked about their story, while another gave the crowd facts and statistics about domestic violence.
Senior Fiona Acton, OVW grant assistant, said, “We introduced this a few years ago as a campus-wide event to bring students together and spread awareness. The point is to bring survivors and allies together because it is such a relevant issue that happens. It is really great to see men, women, and sports teams come together to show that they care.”
Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention (MCVP) serves as a resource for anyone struggling with dating or domestic violence or who knows somebody struggling within the Keene area.
MCVP Prevention Education Program Director Gianna Ricco said, “I think having the community come together and talk about dating and domestic violence awareness is important, and the more we can talk about it, we can look for the warning signs and know who to reach out to for help and be a supportive community for each other.”
Ricco continued, “Our services are free for anyone experiencing interpersonal violence or if they know someone who is experiencing that. We also have a 24/7 crisis line that you can reach out to, and an advocate will respond. You don’t have to be in a crisis to call.”
To stay informed about on-campus resources, Workman can be found at 48 Butler Court; her email is catherine.workman@keene.edu.
To learn more about the MCVP resources available, Ricco’s email is PrevEDirector@mcvprevention.org. Their office is at 12 Court Street, Ste. 103, in Keene, N.H.
Ali Barretta can be contacted at
abarretta@kscequinox.com
