USAFA 'Takes Back the Night'

  • Published
  • By U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
  • Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  The inaugural "Take Back the Night USAFA!" event, the centerpiece for this year's Sexual Assault Awareness Month, took place April 17 on the Academy terrazzo.

Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle D. Johnson opened the event and introduced the keynote speaker, Brig. Gen. Andrew Armacost, Dean of the Faculty.

A bonfire was lit by Johnson as the Cadet Wing joined together to affirm their motto of maintaining a "Culture of Respect."

Home to 4,000 cadets and several thousand military and civilian employees, the Academy fosters a safe environment with a zero tolerance policy for sexual misconduct, said USAFA Sexual Assault Response coordinator Teresa Beasley.

'''Take Back the Night' started in 1970 in San Francisco and continues worldwide to raise awareness of violence, especially sexual assault, and to symbolically 'take back the night' by lighting it up, typically using candles," she said.

TBTN events are held to proclaim "the right of people to move freely" in their communities day and night without sexual harassment or sexual assault, Beasley said.

Visit  http://www.usafa.edu/Commandant/art/index.cfm?catname=SARC-ART for more SAPR information.