Tonight, Shippensburg University’s Women’s Center will be hosting its annual “Take Back the Night” (TBTN) event in the Ceddia Union Building multipurpose room.

TBTN was started over half a century ago in Europe. Women from various countries would meet and discuss safety while walking down public streets. Eventually, these meetings turned into rallies and protests to help support abused women, and ended up in the United States.

Since then, TBTN has been helping women across the globe by supporting events, providing relief and more to help women who have fallen victim to sexual assault and domestic abuse.

TBTN has been occurring at SU annually, for almost 20 years and was previously set up by the “former director, students and other faculty and staff,” said Stephanie Eridce, director of the Women’s Center.

The program will consist of a rally at which several students, faculty and staff will talk, including opening comments from SU president George “Jody” Harpster. Some videos will be shown and there will be a performance from SU’s own “In Motion” dance troupe.

For one of the videos, The Slate news editor and print media student Mary Grace Keller collaborated with the Woman’s Center and Human Resources Center to create a three-minute video that features students, staff and faculty discussing the importance of putting an end to domestic violence and sexual assault on campus.

The web-video, based around the “Ship Says No More” campaign, will have its first public showing at the event. The complete video will be released in early May.

TBTN will wrap up with a march around campus and a “speak-out” where anyone can share their experience with sexual violence or intimate partner abuse.

The event follows a similar format to most TBTN events across the country. Erdice said, “Most ‘Take Back the Nights’ have a similar format and almost all of them include a speak-out, where people can break the silence around sexual assault. We work hard to incorporate themes of support and hope into our program.”

Along with the TBTN program, the Women’s Center will be showcasing the clothesline project, where victims of violence decorate T-shirts to express their experience. They will be hung on a clothesline in the CUB.

Erdice also spoke about the “Ship Says No More” campaign, which has recently created a buzz on social media and campus.

“We kicked off the Ship Says No More program at TBTN 2014. Our keynote speaker was the VP of communications for PA Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) and she was one of the people responsible for creating the PA Says No More website/resources.”

Erdice went on to say how SU has a “long history of working to educate, prevent and equally adjudicate incidents of sexual misconduct.” The university felt as though not everyone was aware of this and decided to adapt the national “No More” campaign to spread awareness.

This led to the creation the “Ship Says No More” website, so all of the university’s resources on the matter could be found in one place.

“I truly believe we have the ability to drastically reduce the number of sexual misconduct incidents that happen on our campus,” Edrice said, “But it will take everyone — student, faculty, staff and other community members to stand up and speak out against it.”

The Woman’s Center has multiple programs that take place during the fall and spring semesters. You can learn more about these events by following the Woman’s Center on Twitter @SUWomensCenter or email the center at wmscentr@ship.edu.

More information on TBTN can be found at TakeBackTheNight.org and the “Ships Says No More” page can be viewed at No_More.

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