“There is a certain power in speaking your story out loud, and I wanted to give people the chance to do that,” said Bailey Beem, Avoca, Mich., senior and president of POWER.
Albion College’s first annual Take Back The Night was hosted by POWER last Monday, April 4th, in an effort to raise awareness about sexual assault and rape. The event gave survivors of sexual assault and rape a chance to share their stories either anonymously or publicly. Though it was nearly 20 degrees and small bits of snow were falling, there was a great turnout from both faculty members and students.
Professors Nels Christensen, English, and Allison Harnish, Anthropology, both shared during the event, while Bailey Beem gave shocking facts and statistics. Some of which include that one in five women and one in 71 men in the United States will be raped every year and within a college campus, one in five women and one in 16 men will be sexually assaulted in their college career, according to The White House Council on Women and Girls.
“Putting on this event was definitely a major goal of my college career,” said Beem. “To see it realized a month before graduating is incredible. I feel like Albion students are ready to start taking major action against these problems, and I would love for this event to encourage more and more people to speak their truths.”
Photo by Wikimedia Commons
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