On April 11, in Alumni Hall, Peer Education will be hosting the event “Take Back the Night.” The event has been going on for more than 10 years now and is designed to bring awareness of sexual assault to young adults.

“Sexual assault is a really big issue and people often overlook just how prevalent it is on college campuses,” said Renee Belisky, a coleader of the event. “We want to bring awareness to the fact that assault happens on campuses all over the country.”

The event is set to revolve around statistics that are meant to inform students just how common sexual assault is both on and off college campuses. There will also be a panel of presenters at the event, many of which will be sexual assault survivors.

“They are there to share their stories and experiences and how they dealt with the horrors that they, unfortunately, had to experience,” said Belisky. “It’s heart breaking – everything that they went through, but if they share their stories with us, maybe someone else won’t have to endure that kind of pain.”

Also being covered in the event is the topic of consent and that everyone has the right to say “no, stop, don’t.” They want to make sure that women know that their body, is their body, and they have every right to decide what is permitted to happen with their bodies.

Afterwards there will time for those in attendance to mingle among each other, discuss their experiences and write open letters to survivors.

“This event is about empowerment, to find strength in one another,” said Belisky.

To honor those who were victims of sexual assault, there will be snacks and a balloon releasing ceremony after the speaking portion of the event in Johnson Commons.