CSU-Pueblo hosted a Take Back the Night event to raise awareness about sexual assault April 15.

This was CSU-Pueblo’s first year hosting a TBNT event, which is a movement that started in the 1960s.

TBTN events have been documented in over 30 countries in hundreds of communities around the world. When it was created, the foundation’s board members and supporters came together to unite the hundreds of events being held under the TBTN banner around the world.

Women from many countries meet together as a tribunal council to discuss women’s safety when walking down public streets.

According to the event’s official website, takebackthenight.org,  “TBTN has focused on eliminating sexual and domestic violence in all forms. Thousands of colleges, domestic violence shelters, and rape crisis centers have held events all over the country.”

Roosevelt Wilson, CSU-Pueblo’s gender equality and sexual misconduct coordinator, said TBTN events are necessary when widely publicized assault cases overshadow the needs of victims.

“This is another avenue of showing a commitment to the survivors of sexual assault. We want to show that, regardless of certain events such as the UVA rape case that misleads the attention of events like TBTN,” Wilson said. “We want to make our students feel like we are doing everything we can do to educate our audience to create awareness.”

Wilson said that after an assault case, the attention is generally placed on the victim, not the perpetrator.

“It’s not about what you can do to avoid the situation, but rather what you need to do to not commit sexual assault,” he said.

The event, which was held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the OUC ballroom, encourage participants to reclaim the night as a safe place for women.

Stephanie Tanny, who was the featured speaker, works with organizations and individuals across the country who feel stuck discover and build their dreams.

A performance by Pullman Standard, a power rock quintet based out of North Hollywood, concluded the evening.