A Message from Fatima Roohi Pervaiz, UO Women’s Center Director, regarding Take Back the Night Rally, March and Speak Out Against Sexual and Domestic Violence:
Dear UO Campus Community,
After receiving guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our Federal, State and Local Government as well as Senior Leadership of the University of Oregon and the Division of Student Life, it is with a sincerely heavy heart that I officially announce the cancellation of this year’s Take Back the Night Rally, March and Speak Out Against Sexual and Domestic Violence on April 30th starting at 6pm in the EMU Amphitheater.
Given the large number of attendees and the risks associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic, we must take every precaution to prevent the spread of the virus to the Campus Community and any vulnerable folks who may in turn be exposed.
Yet now more than ever as people are experiencing unprecedented levels of isolation due to social distancing and quarantines (possibly in the same home with their abusers), supporting Survivors of Sexual and Domestic Violence is essential. Olivia Rodriguez, the Women’s Center’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator, and I are working tirelessly to transform TBTN into a remote movement that continues to support survivors and amplify the voices of marginalized communities.
So although Take Back the Night as it has always been (with an in-person Rally, March and Speak Out) is officially canceled – we will still host a version of Take Back the Night at the end of April which will be digitally archived and saved for folks to view when and where it is safe for them to do so.
Please stay tuned for official updates on how and when to engage in this year’s transformed TBTN – and remember that the UO Women’s Center is committed to our trauma informed, student and survivor-centered, intersectional feminist, anti-oppression mission.
I am sincerely so sorry that this is where we have landed. But I assure you that we as a community will push through. We will do this because we are so resilient, so powerful and so worthy of the safety and loving support that Take Back the Night has always provided.
Any questions or concerns related to TBTN can be emailed to me at fpervaiz@uoregon.edu or Olivia at SVPEWC@gmail.com.
For 24/7 confidential support and resources about sexual violence, please call 541.346.SAFE or visit SAFE.uoregon.edu.
With Love and Solidarity,
Fatima Roohi Pervaiz