Elms College to Host Take Back the Night Rally on March 28

CHICOPEE — Elms College will host a Take Back the Night rally and march on Thursday, March 28 starting at 6:30 p.m. on the Keating Quadrangle.

At 6:30, participants will gather at the firepit on the Quad to make posters for the rally, which will kick off at 7 with a poetry reading by writer Jordan Rice. At 7:30, the Elms community will march through the streets of downtown Chicopee to ‘take back the night.’ At 8:30, the marchers will return to campus and gather once again on the Quad to read true stories of assault survivors.

Rice is the author of the forthcoming Constellarium and co-editor of the anthology Voices of Transgender Parents. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Colorado Review, Feminist Wire, Mid-American Review, and Mississippi Review, among others. Her poetry has been selected for the 2010 Indiana Review Poetry Prize, the 2010 Richard Peterson Poetry Prize from Crab Orchard Review, the 2008 Gulf Coast Prize in Poetry, and the 2008 Milton Kessler Memorial Prize for Poetry from Harpur Palate. She earned a Ph.D. from Western Michigan University, where she served as associate editor for New Issues Poetry & Prose and as an assistant poetry editor for Third Coast. She earned an master of fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. Rice is an executive section editor for Dublin Poetry Review.

Take Back The Night started in the 1960s. The organization’s mission is to end sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse, and all other forms of sexual violence, and to create safe communities and respectful relationships through awareness events and initiatives. Take Back The Night Events have been documented in more than 36 countries and more than 800 communities, with more locations taking a stand every year.