Spectrum - Volume 19 Issue 23 March 13, 1997 - An open letter to community and student organizations,

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

An open letter to community and student organizations,

Spectrum Volume 19 Issue 23 - March 13, 1997

Womanspace (the Women's Undergraduate Network at Virginia Tech), the Women's Month Planning Committee at Virginia Tech, and other sponsoring organizations invite your group's participation in the eighth annual Take Back the Night Rally and March to be held Thursday, March 27, during Women's Month 1997 at Virginia Tech.

The purpose of the candlelight march is to bring together members of the campus and community to protest violence towards women and to promote awareness of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that perpetuate this violence. Organizers encourage everyone in our community to take an active role in changing our society, a society in which women have reason to fear being out at night alone.

Your organization has an excellent opportunity to share your collective voice during the rally and march. A gathering of students, community members, and visitors will join together to protest violence against women. We invite you to march as an organization, telling our community that your group protests violence against women. We would be proud to have you participate in the Take Back the Night Rally and March.

Participants are asked to bring candles or flashlights. The march route is accessible for disabled persons. At the rally, your organization will be recognized, so we invite you to bring signs or a group banner supporting Take Back the Night.

We will begin to gather around 7 p.m. on the Alumni Hall lawn. The rally will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will include speakers and musicians from campus and the community. The march will begin at 8 p.m. We will march around campus and downtown Blacksburg and return to Alumni Hall for a closing celebration.

We encourage your organization to take this opportunity to protest violence against women. If you decide to participate as an organization or have any questions, please call us, (Susan Anderson, at 951-2013, e-mail: anderson@math.vt.edu; Serena Gruia at 961-7465, e-mail: sgruia@vt.edu.)

We look forward to protesting violence against women with you. Together, we will Take Back the Night.

Susan Anderson and Serena Gruia, TBTN co-coordinators