FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   

Date:  April 11, 2008
Contact:  Diane Buzick, 786.4508 or diane.buzick@llcc.edu


SPRINGFIELD–Lincoln Land Community College and University of Illinois at Springfield students will present their first-ever Take Back the Night march and rally on Friday, April 18.  The rally will begin at 7 p.m. on LLCC’s main campus (5250 Shepherd Road, Springfield) where survivors of abuse will share their stories.  Participants will then march from LLCC to UIS, where there will be a celebration with entertainment and refreshments.

Take Back the Night is a movement inclusive of all men and women that brings survivors, supporters and activists together in a call for the end of violence against women.

"Take Back the Night is a celebration, a commemoration and an act of resistance.  We celebrate our sisters who have survived gender violence. We honor the memory of those who did not survive. We claim our right to be and to feel safe everywhere," said Catherine Walters, executive director of Prairie Center Against Sexual Assault.

The event is free and open to the public. Free T-shirts will be available for the first 50 participants with an LLCC or UIS student ID. 

The event is being presented by the LLCC Feminist Activist Coalition and UIS Women's Issues Caucus student clubs.  Other sponsors include the LLCC Multicultural Awareness Center, UIS Women's Center, UIS Student Government Association and the Prairie Center Against Sexual Assault.