Coastal Carolina hosts Take Back the Night

On Monday, April 8 CCU hosted their on-campus version of Take Back the Night, an international event that is directed around bringing awareness to domestic violence and sexual assault.

Internationally, the event is host to marches, rallies and speak outs. Dating back to the early 1970’s, the event has covered topics of domestic, relationship, and sexual violence.

More locally however, Coastal’s campus was a location where students, faculty, and staff could come together in a safe place to express their energy for a safe campus as well as show support for survivors.

The event on campus included things like a student’s perspective and experience of sexual assault, a march through campus, live music, and an open mic speak out.

Anna Beck, a senior at Coastal and a speaker at the event, talked about the importance of people coming and seeing what the event is all about.

“The turnout at the event was great to see and I think it allowed individuals who may not typically attend to open up and share their stories,” said Beck.

The open mic portion was a moving and emotional experience, filled with personal accounts of sexual assault. But shining through the cracks, was the overwhelming feeling of support and understanding shared by all who were attending.

The male support of the event was very apparent when looking at the overall demographics of everyone who attended the event. While sexual assault and domestic violence typically tend to be seen as women’s issues and male support is limited, the event on campus opposed all of those preconceptions.

Overall, Take Back the Night was an uplifting, inspiring, and moving event that showed genuine student support. All societal issues discussed through this event are prevalent on college campuses and the university hosted this event with class and importance.