Students Race Against Crime

This year, students will start taking back the night during the day.

Harvard-Radcliffe's annual "Take Back the Night Week," a week designed to raise awareness of safety issues, will begin at noon on April 14 with a "Take Back the River Run."

The five kilometer run has been organized by the Harvard Alliance for Safety and Training (HASTE), a campus group formed in response to physical assaults around the Harvard campus which took place earlier this year.

According to HASTE member Marna K. Walthall '98, the goals of the run are "to promote safety issues around the Harvard campus...especially running safety and to raise money for safety programs such as Rape Aggression Defense and Model Mugging classes."

HASTE members say the run was conceived in response to the mid-morning sexual assault of a woman running near the Charles River last fall.

Since the run takes place the day before the Boston Marathon, Walthall said that organizers hope that the event will attract people coming to Boston for the Marathon.

Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) is supporting the run, and planning to cover any expenses not covered by corporate sponsors, according to RUS President Corinne E. Funk '97, a Crimson editor.

"I think that [the run] is wonderful because the week has a lot of speakers and discussions and it's something tangible that a lot of people can participate in," Funk said.

The race course begins at the corner of JFK Street and Memorial Drive. The first 300 entrants will receive a free T-shirt and all entrants are eligible to receive raffle prizes

"I think that [the run] is wonderful because the week has a lot of speakers and discussions and it's something tangible that a lot of people can participate in," Funk said.

The race course begins at the corner of JFK Street and Memorial Drive. The first 300 entrants will receive a free T-shirt and all entrants are eligible to receive raffle prizes