[414] MTSU Activists "Speak Out' Against Sexual Assault, Violence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 13, 2011
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU ACTIVISTS ‘SPEAK OUT’ AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT, VIOLENCE
June Anderson Center, Students Hang Society’s Dirty Laundry on the Clothesline

(MURFREESBORO) – As part of MTSU’s observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students and Women in Action, a student organization, will sponsor the Clothesline Project Monday, April 18, and Tuesday, April 19, and Take Back the Night Tuesday, April 19 on the Keathley University Center (KUC) knoll.
The Clothesline Project is an annual display of T-shirts featuring true stories of sexual assault and domestic violence. In preparation, Women in Action will sponsor a “Make Your Own T-Shirt/Sign” event at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in the June Anderson Center, which is on the third floor of the KUC. The shirts will be displayed Monday, April 18, and Tuesday, April 19 on the knoll.
Take Back the Night, a gathering at which participants are encouraged to express themselves on domestic violence and sexual assault, will begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in the KUC Theatre with monologues by members and supporters of Women in Action.
At 6 p.m., the “speakout” will begin on the KUC knoll. Vincent Windrow, director of the Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs, will deliver the keynote address.
“After hearing stories and realizing that these stories come from everyday people, it’s sets the ground for change,” says JAC student assistant Chanera Pierce, a political science major from Memphis.
Officials from the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), a collaborative effort by concerned citizens in law enforcement, the judicial system, social services and the health care professions, will be on hand.
“Sometimes this is the only time people will come to get resources because it’s an open and public event and they feel safe coming to it,” says Terri Johnson, director of the June Anderson Center and a member of SART.
Following the “speakout,” participants will march around campus along a route that will encompass more territory than in previous years. Women’s footwear will be available for men who choose to take part in “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” during the march.


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“It’s something very good to bring men into advocacy about domestic violence because they are just as much a part of (the solution) as we are,” says Ashley Cox, a political science major from Chattanooga, a member of Women in Action and volunteer coordinator at the JAC.
The event will conclude with sexual assault counselor Shelley Wright leading a candlelight vigil on the KUC knoll. Volunteer Jay Chalmers, an accountant in the MTSU Business Office, will provide music.
For more information, contact the June Anderson Center at 615-898-5989 or jawc@mtsu.edu.


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Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. Recently, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.