Please join us for Georgia Tech's 22nd annual Take Back the Night, a candlelight vigil dedicated to honoring survivors of sexual violence, including rape and sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. Every year, we invite Georgia Tech community members to share their stories of their experience with sexual or relationship violence, either through anonymous submission or by reading it at Take Back the Night. This powerful event is focused on supporting and elevating the voices of survivors, and educating our community about these issues.

Sexual violence is an issue that can impact anyone. As long as sexual violence impacts one person on our campus, it impacts all of us. We believe that one of the key steps to ending sexual and relationship violence is believing survivors and creating spaces to allow survivors to share their stories, whether they happened recently or years ago. The courage and strength in sharing their stories will help other survivors know that they are not alone, and that we do not tolerate sexual violence or let it go silently into the night.

There will be counselors and other resources available at the event.

This event is part Sexual Assault Awareness Month and is hosted by the VOICE initiative, PAUSE student organization, the Women's Resource Center, and the Office of Health Promotion. Learn more about Take Back the Night and our upcoming Teal Ribbon Day of Action on April 14 at www.voice.gatech.edu.

Georgia Tech is proud to offer AlcoholEdu and Haven: Understanding Sexual Assault for all students beginning their academic program in the Fall of 2015.

As part of our comprehensive health programming, Georgia Tech expects each member of the first-year undergraduate class andincoming transfer students to complete AlcoholEdu and Haven. All first-year graduate students are expected to complete Haven. Whether you drink or not, AlcoholEdu will empower you to make well-informed decisions about alcohol and help you better cope with the drinking behavior of your peers. The Haven: Understanding Sexual Assault program will address the critical issues of sexual assault, relationship violence and stalking.

It is a mandatory requirement for all incoming students at Georgia Tech to complete the online training requirement in a timely manner

Applications for the third cohort of VOICE Peer Educators are now open! We welcome applications from any student who would like to actively work with us next year to create a safe and equitable campus environment. Every fall semester, VOICE expands our group of Peer Educators, a diverse group of dedicated students trained to educate other students on issues related to sexual violence.
Please see the attached flyer, or visit voice.gatech.edu for more information. The preferred deadline is May 15 at 5pm.

Take Back the Night: April 6th at 7PM at The Campanile

Strike Out Abuse!

The Georgia Tech Athletic Association and VOICE, Georgia Tech's sexual violence prevention and response initiative, present Jackson Katz at 7:00pm in the Ferst Center!

Jackson Katz will present on his book, The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and and How All Men Can Help

Katz is an educator, an author, social critic, and nationally acclaimed lecturer who speaks on gender violence prevention education and critical media literacy.

"Calling gender violence a women's issue is part of the problem. It gives a lot of men an excuse not to pay attention."--Jackson Katz

Mayor Kasim Reed's office is launching a new campaign, "Take A Stand" aimed at reducing the number of sexual assaults in Atlanta. Tomorrow (11/13), the Mayor's Office is kicking off this campaign by hosting a Press Conference at 11:30am at City Hall. Later in the day at 5pm, there will be a screening of a new 25-minute film about sexual assault and prevention, as well as PSAs featuring celebrity advocates for sexual violence prevention and a panel discussion. 

VOICE Ally Training is next week. This training is free and open to any interested students, faculty, and staff.

The VOICE Ally Training provides:

• An introduction to the problem of sexual violence
• A brief overview of advocacy and response resources at Georgia Tech
• A foundation of basic information needed to be an ally and support a student who has experienced sexual violence

Mary McDonald is the Homer C. Rice Chair of Sports and Society in the School of History, Technology and Society. Her research focuses on the cultural studies of sport including representations of gender, race, class and sexuality. Check out her commentary on Sports and Domestic Abuse:

The stories of former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice’s elevator assault of then-fiancé Janay Palmer and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s indecisive leadership in response to intimate partner violence (IPV) committed by several other NFL players continue to evolve. These include questions about whether or not elite male sports figures commit violence against intimate female partners at higher rates than their non-athlete counterparts. There is some evidence to suggest this may be the case, although this is difficult to establish given that most cases of intimate partner assault – involving both athletes and non-athletes – are never reported to the police. There remains an epidemic of violence. The FBI’s crime reports estimate that more than three women die every day after being assaulted by male current or former partners.

To read more of Dr. McDonald's interesting article about Sports and Domestic Abuse, click here.

As part of a national effort to address sexual violence on college campuses, the Institute has updated its Student Sexual Misconduct Policy. The updated policy was approved at an April meeting of the General Faculty.

The new stand-alone policy now has its own reporting and adjudication processes, separate from those of the Student Code of Conduct.

In preparation for the 2014-15 academic year, students are encouraged to read the policy and understand what specific behaviors are in violation of it, paying particular attention to the definition and importance of consent for all sexual activity. The policy also outlines the rights of all parties involved in a report of sexual misconduct.

The application for the fall 2014 cohort of the VOICE Peer Education Program for Sexual Violence Prevention is now available: http://bit.ly/1pdO0dh! The preferred application deadline is Wednesday, May 7 by 5pm.


This is a great program for students interested in being leaders in the creation of a safe and equitable campus environment. Peer Educators will learn how to teach their peers about sexual violence prevention and give students the tools they need to build healthy relationships. More information on program details is available within the application.


The application can also be found on the VOICE website at voice.gatech.edu. Please forward this opportunity on to any students that you think would be interested.


Please contact Lee Helmken for further information:

Lee Helmken
(404) 894-1072

End SV at GT is a student-led initiative to end sexual violence on Georgia Tech’s campus. We are glad you are as passionate and interested in this issue as we are. Check out the following links to learn more about the EndSVatGT initiatives as well as how to get involved.

You can read the white paper here

You can endorse the white paper here - what to do more? Click here

Connect at: endsvatgt@gmail.com; @endsvatgt (twitter); EndSVatGT(Facebook)

Angie Epifano is an activist who was launched into the national spotlight after her open letter describing her experience as a sexual assault survivor at Amherst College went viral and sparked a long-overdue discussion about sexual violence at higher education institutions.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is finally here!

We will be running a White Ribbon Campaign, aimed at engaging men on campus in preventing sexual violence, recognizing that sexual violence is everyone's issue. We will be targeting student men's groups (fraternities, male-only residence halls, Athletics, etc.) on campus and giving them white/teal ribbon stickers, with the hopes that they will wear them in April, and send us a photo of their group that we can share on social media and our website.

We will be hosting "Teal Ribbon Day." We will be mailing a letter and teal ribbon sticker to all faculty/staff in the coming weeks. We will be encouraging faculty/staff to wear their ribbons on 4/24 and submit photos to voice@gatech.edu, which we will then share on social media and our website.

We will be tabling on campus on the following dates (either in the Student Center or on Tech Walkway, depending on the weather):

Monday, April 7
Thursday, April 10
Monday, April 14
Wednesday, April 16
Thursday, April 24 (for Faculty/Staff "Teal Ribbon Day")