University of Illinois Springfield holds 'take back the night' march

April is sexual assault awareness month and the University of Illinois Springfield is working to bring that awareness to the community.

UIS held its 'Take Back the Night' event tonight, bringing supporters together to march around campus and learn how to help survivors.

Organizers say the theme of this year's ten-day event is light out of darkness.

"With this event, we really try to impart a sense of hope and feeling, like you know, there is light for the survivors," said Rexann Whorton, Director of UIS' Women's Center.

This is the 13th year that the university has done this rally.

This story aired on WICS Newschannel 20 on April 16, 2021.

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Flag display raising sexual assault awareness at UIS

The University of Illinois Springfield is observing Sexual Assault Awareness Month Day of Action.

The UIS Women's Center and Civic Engagement Center created a display of 1,000 flags.

The flags represent the 433,000 Americans who are sexually assaulted each year. Each flag represents 433 Americans.

This story appeared on WICS on April 6, 2021.

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UIS Women's Center hosts Women's Leadership Reception

In honor of Women's History Month, the University of Illinois Springfield's Women's Center hosted its culminating keynote event, the Women's Leadership Reception.

The reception included a panel discussion, featuring five Springfield women who have achieved great success.

It was held exclusively for UIS students as an opportunity to provide words of wisdom about what it means to be a female leader in 2019.

"There are still many barriers that women face in leadership. We tried to bring people from a diversity of backgrounds to come because those barriers might be different, depending on what field you're in but oftentimes they're very much the same," Program Director Rexanne Whorton said.

This story aired on WICS Newschannel 20 on March 26, 2019.

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UIS hosts open house for Women's History Month

The University of Illinois Springfield is kicking off women's history month with an open house.

The Women's Center at UIS held an open house Friday to let everyone know what they offer.

For more than 25 years, the center has offered a variety of services and events - often challenges women face every day.

"As part of this month, we're doing a age negotiation workshop. It's not just limited to women - anyone can go to our wage negotiation workshop, but the focus is on the fact that women often struggle with that sort of thing in the workplace," Program Director of the Woman's Center Rexann Whorton said.

This story aired on WICS Newschannel 20 on March 1, 2019.

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UIS event raises awareness of sexual assault

Students at the University of Illinois Springfield held a rally and candlelight march Friday night to protest rape and all forms of violence against women.

It’s the seventh year at UIS for the annual Take Back the Night rally and march aimed at empowering people to reclaim their right to feel comfortable and safe in the evening hours.

Lynn Otterson, director of the Women’s Center at UIS, said that while someone can be raped at any age, most victims are in the 18- to 24-year-old range, which includes most college students.

The story was featured by The State Journal-Register on April 26, 2014.

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Anti-violence march emboldens women

The 35-degree wind chill couldn’t keep 19-year-old Ciara Woodcock from the annual “Take Back the Night” march at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Friday night’s march, now in its sixth year at the university, focuses on preventing violence against women. It’s designed to empower women, encourage them to speak out and foster an atmosphere of healing.

“It’s something important to stand up for. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little cold,” said Woodcock,” a freshman from Pawnee.

Estimates from the U.S. Centers on Disease Control and Prevention are that 20 percent to 25 percent of college women in the United States have experienced a rape or an attempted rape during their college career.

“While we care about violence against all persons, we recognize that sexual violence and relationship violence is much more likely to happen to women and girls,” said Lynn Otterson, director of the UIS Women’s Center.

In addition to the march, activities at UIS Friday included survivors’ stories, music and poetry.

The story was featured by The State Journal-Register on April 20, 2013.

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One Billion Rising: Campaign against violence

You see the smiles on their faces and the rhythm in their feet, but their campaign is against a dark epidemic they say impacts “One Billion Rising”.

More than a hundred students at the University of Illinois Springfield are so concerned with sexual assault and abuse they spent hours working on a dance just to get their cause noticed. And while it is an issue most people think impacts women, it is the men who can also make a difference.

“It is a women's issue, but it is a world issue," One Billion Rising activist Zach Berillo said. "It's a men's issue just as much."

He is one of more than a hundred students, faculty and other activists who are trying to fight a startling statistic.

“With the planet's population over 7 billion, we know that at least one billion women and girls now walking the Earth have been or will be raped, beaten or killed," UIS Women’s Center Director Lynn Otterson said. "This is happening in 200 countries today.”

The WICS-TV 20 story aired on February 14, 2013.

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One Billion Rising encourages an end to violence against women globally

Women, men, children, families, organizations and nations will rise Feb. 14 with the hope of ending violence against women.

The organizers of V-Day, the international campaign that raises awareness each Feb. 14 about violence against girls and women, have created a new campaign called One Billion Rising in honor of the group's 15th anniversary.

The Women's Center at the University of Illinois Springfield plans to commemorate this year's V-day with an estimated 50 dancers performing "Break the Chain" twice Feb. 14.

Lynn Otterson, the center's director, called the movement empowering and said she hopes word will spread throughout the university's community. She said men at the school have taken the initiative to get involved in the events, even signing a pledge of solidarity with women.

The center also began a Facebook campaign that brings together photos of women and men holding white boards in support of the movement. The women's white boards say "I am rising," and the men's boards say "I support rising women." Otterson said these images stand in solidarity with the global One Billion Rising movement.

The campaign was featured by the National Catholic Reporter on February 9, 2013.

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