WOMEN’S CENTER Take Back the Night Schedules Events Nov. 5 to 9 By Arianne Aryanpur Hoya Staff Writer

The seventh annual Take Back the Night week will take place Nov. 5 to 9 with a series of events aimed at focusing on violence against women and renewing community safety.

The week kicks off Monday with a garden dedication ceremony commemorating survivors and victims of violence against women. The garden ceremony, which according to organizers will serve as a “life-affirming positive space for women on campus,” will take place at 12 p.m. across from Reiss Science Building. Open ic Night, aimed at providing students with a free forum to contribute poetry, prose, music and other forms of artistic expression, will take place at Uncommon Grounds at 8:30 p.m.

A free self-defense workshop will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Leavey Program Room.

Co-sponsored by the Black House, a workshop and discussion on dating violence will allow students to discuss dating violence and ways to recognize it Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.

The GU Step Team as well as local musicians Meagan Perkins, Carol Bui and Mothertongue will perform at a concert 7 p.m. Wednesday in Bulldog Alley.

A peacekeeper training session will take place 5:30 p.m. in Leavey 338, followed by a street harassment workshop in Leavey Program Room at 7 p.m.

The four-day TBTN event culminates with a rally, march and speakout to end the violence at 6 p.m. in Red Square.The rally will feature student speakers,Women’s Studies Director Suzanna Walters and former National Organization of Women President Patricia Ireland.

TBTN originated in Germany in the 1970s after a series of brutal rapes and has been an annual event in the U.S. since the early 1980s. Presently universities across the nation organize on-campus awareness programs in order to make the night safe for women of the world.