Request More Info Apply to IUP
Several people stand in the Oak Grove, facing left in fading daylight, as lights in colored covers, most of them purple, completely line the sidewalks. A female police officer watches over the event. A pink flowering tree is visible at the center of the grove among several bare trees.

In Take Back the Night’s Lighting of Luminarias, each light represented an IUP student impacted by sexual violence.

Last week, the Haven Project held Take Back the Night, its annual event to raise awareness of sexual assault and to show support for survivors.

The day included the release of a , a video in which Haven Project peer educators gave a voice to survivors by sharing their anonymously submitted stories.

Evening activities included chalking messages of support throughout the Oak Grove, followed by the lighting of luminarias, with each of the 1,783 lights representing an IUP student impacted by sexual violence. White bags on the lights represented members of the transgender, gender queer, and gender non-conforming community; purple bags represented women; and teal bags represented men.

The evening closed with words of support: “We see you. We hear you. We believe you. We support you.”

Photographer Brian Henry shared this coverage of the Oak Grove activities.

Two sets of female students hug one another in the Oak Grove, with other people visible in the background, along with event display tables. Students, from left, Lynn Munro, Sarah Trafton, Kate Muzy, and Arson Franciscus were among those who attended Take Back the Night to support survivors of sexual violence.

Four students smile and pose in the Oak Grove, standing side by side with their arms around one another’s shoulders. People sitting on a blanket, a tree trunk, several people milling about, and the front of the IUP Performing Arts Center are visible in the background. Scores of students turned out to support victims of sexual violence at Take Back the Night.

A student looks at an assortment of colorful T-shirts hanging on two clotheslines in front of her, with trees and a building in the background. Alize Woodard, a sophomore Communications Media major, looked at submissions to the Clothesline Project, a display of T-shirts designed by victims of violence. The Clothesline Project was started in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1990 as a vehicle for women affected by violence to express their emotions and as a means of raising awareness of the issue.

Colorful T-shirts with messages and designs hang on two clotheslines running close to parallel in the Oak Grove, with a corner of Waller Hall’s porch, display tables, and people standing and talking to one another in the background. A light-blue T-shirt decorated with tears streaming from two large eyes is prominent in the foreground.T-shirts designed by victims of violence were displayed as part of the Clothesline Project. The project’s purpose is to increase awareness of the impact of violence, to honor survivors’ strength to continue, and to give them another way to break the silence that often surrounds their experience.

A ground-level view of a student with spiky reddish hair, who is on her knees, drawing a heart in light-blue chalk on an Oak Grove sidewalk. Several people and the IUP Performing Arts Center are visible behind her. Flora Kelly, a junior Communications Media major, was among the students who chalked messages of support for survivors of sexual violence.