The Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, along with the Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support, or ACCESS, will host the annual Take Back the Night event as a way to raise awareness of violence against both individuals and families.

“Take Back the Night actually started in 1976 in Belgium by women who were attending the international tribunal on crimes against women and, since then, it’s kind of spiraled out toward Take Back the Nights occurring worldwide, including universities,” said Ashley Hand, response services coordinator at ACCESS.

Iowa State began Take Back the Night soon after and includes a rally, march and an open mic night.

The rally will kick off the event at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the west terrace of the Memorial Union and will feature speakers from the ISU community.

“The speakers we have tried to involve in the past years have been a lot of administrators, faculty and staff here at Iowa State that really just show their support,” said Christine Peterson, graduate assistant at the Sloss House and graduate in educational leadership and policy studies.

The march will start after the rally at 6:30 p.m. and will follow a path chosen by ACCESS. Starting at the west terrace, participants will march through Campustown and end at the Union Drive Community Center, where the open mic night will take place.

The open mic night, starting at 7:30 p.m. in room 136 of the UDCC, allows survivors or friends or family of survivors to share their feelings and experiences around the topic of sexual assault.

“It’s really just a safe space,” Peterson said. “Sometimes there are some really hard stories to hear, sometimes it gets really low, but at the same time, it is very empowering.”

ACCESS will also be available for people who want or need to talk.

“Another aspect that we provide as advocates is the opportunity, should anybody want to talk with a confidential resource, to speak with one of our advocates and we’re there to really provide support for anybody,” Hand said.

Take Back the Night is open to everyone, from students to staff to the Ames community. Generally, 50 to 100 people have shown up to the event.

“Because this is a crime that often occurs in silence without a lot of impact known, this rally is really a way to unify our community,” Hand said. “We’re going to continue to hold these events and speak out against sexual violence on a community level and raise awareness about this issue until it stops.”