'Take Back the Night' rallies a good response

A scene of eager, encouraging and smiling faces — both male and female — might not be the most common scenario associated with an event centered on the subject of sexual assault and violence.

But this was an accurate description of the atmosphere surrounding “Take Back the Night,” an annual event that advocates for awareness of violence and sexual assault.

Project Dinah, a campus organization devoted to women’s safety and empowerment, collaborated in part with the Carolina Women’s Center to organize the rally in support of Women’s Week.

“Take Back the Night” has been a nationally acknowledged rally for more than 20 years, said Ashley Fogle, associate director of the Carolina Women’s Center.

“Specifically, the title was created to reject the conventional misconceptions that nighttime is unsafe for women who are prone to suffer an increase in assault, but instead recognize this as a time of empowerment,” she said.

The rally took place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday inside the Student Union Cabaret due to rainy weather conditions.

The event was composed of three parts, including a rally with guest speaker and coordinator of the sexual violence prevention program on campus, Bob Pleasants, a campuswide march and a spoken word forum.

Rally contributors were encouraged to create posters, banners and T-shirts to raise awareness for and support for prevention of sexual assault and relationship violence.

“The main idea behind the rally is to get as many people involved, including students and the overall community, so the issue of sexual violence and assault becomes more and more relevant and eventually awareness increases,” said Carolin Fish, coordinating member of Project Dinah.

Among the student participants, local organizations were also present, including the Carolina Women’s Center, Orange County Rape Crisis Center and Campus Health Services.

Each of these institutes set up tables and informational outlets offering educational resources to those who were interested in learning more about sexual assault.

Fish said the rally was not only a resource for those who care to learn more about the issue of sexual violence, but also a haven for those who have been directly affected by this issue and are seeking help and speaking out.

Pleasants reinforced the idea that students should take an active role in empowering themselves and preventing all forms of sexual and abusive violence.

“I do not desire to be the face of violence prevention on campus, but instead I desire the students to be. We are all part of the solution,” he said.

Pleasants added interactive portions to his talk, asking students to close their eyes and imagine a world in which sexual assault didn’t exist. Participants were then able to share their thoughts and reflections.

“The concepts that the speaker presented were logical and made me think deeper about how sexual assault affects all of us in common situations such as going out on the weekend,” said freshman Marissa Weiss.

The rally continued with a march along Franklin Street, through fraternity houses and campus classrooms. The march finished at the Student Union.

“The essential purpose of the march is to attract community attention and demonstrate, regardless whether one is male or female, they still deserve to feel safe at night without fear of violence,” Fish said.

The night’s events concluded with a spoken word forum known as “Speak Out,” which offered an opportunity for students to anonymously submit blog posts recounting their personal experience and later have their testimonials read.

“Aside from the march, typically the highlight of the night is ‘Speak Out’ because I notice a positive increase in the turnout, and everyone is able to personally understand how violence directly affects our community on a more intimate basis,” Fish said.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.