Building Connected Communities With Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Take Back The Night

Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is hosted in April across the nation. Throughout the month and beyond, the campus community is invited to join empowering, engaging and educational programs and events to promote the importance of raising awareness about and supporting those impacted by sexual and relationship violence.

“For a campus as large and dynamic as Syracuse University, it is imperative for students to have and access spaces where survivorship is honored and healing in community is fostered,” shares Kayla Turner ’24, a Sexual Assault Awareness Month Committee member.

Building Connected Communities
This year’s national theme of “Building Connected Communities” is highlighted throughout the month’s programs and events, each hosted by a variety of campus departments, committees and registered student organizations (RSOs).

“SAAM has historically strived to break the cycle of silence and stigma surrounding sexual violence and encourage a dialogue about prevention efforts. We felt it was especially important this year to create spaces across campus that cultivate a sense of community for survivors and their allies promoting healing and empowerment among those impacted,” shares Leslie Skeffington, Barnes Center at The Arch assistant director of sexual and relationship violence (SRV) prevention and chair of the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Committee. “Event highlights include yoga within a lens of post-traumatic resiliency, friendship bracelets, art therapy, a trauma-informed self-defense class and more.”

Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2024 Events

Events include:

• Tuesday, April 9: Unity in Healing: Exploring Yoga for Post-Traumatic Resiliency
• Tuesday, April 16: Crafting Connections Through Friendship Bracelets
• Tuesday, April 16: Unity in Healing: Exploring Yoga for Post-Traumatic Resiliency
• Thursday, April 18: Feminist Self-Defense
• Thursday, April 18: Healing Through Clay Art Therapy with Diane Schenandoah
• Monday, April 29: Healing Through Clay Art Therapy with Diane Schenandoah

Visit the Sexual Assault Awareness Month webpage for a complete list of events and details.

Take Back The Night 2024
A pillar event of Sexual Assault Awareness Month is Take Back The Night (TBTN), an annual event observed globally that brings community members together to speak out about sexual violence, relationship violence and other forms of interpersonal violence. The event provides an opportunity for community members to proclaim that everyone has the right to live free from violence and for the voices of those who have been affected by violence to be heard.

“At Syracuse University, Take Back The Night has always been an event that celebrates the dignity and resilience of survivors while sharing and teaching our community about the impact of sexual and relationship violence,” says Virginia Evans, Barnes Center at The Arch Sexual and Relationship Violence Response Team coordinator, staff therapist and chair of the Take Back The Night Committee. “This year, we have a fantastic group of students planning the event who have reimagined it to hold space for all stages of recovery from interpersonal trauma, using community and collective action as a source of healing. We’ll have refreshments, resource tables, student performances, collective art projects and a Survivor Speak Out, and we will close out the evening with a collective healing activity.”

Allies seeking to show solidarity and support, alongside survivors, at any stage of their healing journey, are invited to participate in SAAM events and the following:

• April 1-30: Sign the Take Back The Night Pledge
• Wednesday, April 10: Take Back The Night
• April 15: #IWillTBTN Stars Campaign Display Kit Ordering Deadline

This story was written by Student Experience Communications Graduate Assistant Kalaya Sibley ’24, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.