Take Back the Night continued its campaign to raise awareness about sexual assault and gender violence with a panel discussion in O’Donovan Dining Hall last night.

The week’s events so far have included an open microphone night, a street harassment workshop, a lecture from a member of the Greater D.C. Trafficking Intervention Program and a Catholic mass for a victim of sexual violence.

“Take Back the Night week encourages victims of sexual violence to speak out,” said Aartie Manansingh (SFS ’07), co-chair of TBTN. “Just as important as the awareness campaign . the week provides survivors, friends and family of survivors or those that are currently struggling with gender violence issues with a forum to express themselves or receive support from other people who have been through similar experiences.”

Participants in last night’s panel addressed problems with the emergency blue light call boxes and SafeRides. Officials also said they were working with the District government to install new streetlights in unsafe and dimly lit areas.

TBTN is also working with the Predatory Awareness Campaign, which held an information session yesterday before the panel discussion. The campaign – the product of a partnership between Health Education Services, the Office of Off-Campus Student Life, the Office of Student Conduct and the Student Safety Advisory Board – works with five local bars, including Rhino’s Pump House and The Tombs, to enhance students’ awareness about predatory drugs.

The program also plans to distribute drink coasters with the message, “Watch your drink,” at the same bars with the hope that the messages will remind students about the dangers of predatory drugs.

The culminating events of TBTN’s week, a rally and vigil tonight in Red Square, aim to help survivors of sexual assault raise their voices. Harmony, a Georgetown a capella group, will open the rally with a performance. Speeches by a representative from the D.C. Rape Crisis Center and Georgetown students and a candlelight vigil will follow the performance.

In addition to managing the annual awareness week, TBTN performs community service and works with RU Ready, a program to educate first-year Georgetown students about sexual assault, Manansingh said. The organization will also sponsor a benefit production of The Vagina Monologues in February, she said.

“TBTN strives to speak out so that survivors can speak out,” said Kendra Jackson (SFS ’06), co-chair of TBTN. “Silence about this issue exacerbates the campus’s ability to address it and to make positive changes toward decreasing the number of assaults that occur,”

Take Back the Night Week will conclude tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. with a dinner and lecture from Pat McGann, president of Men Can Stop Rape, at the New South Riverside Lounge.