Take Back the Night focuses on campus security

Campus security, especially in light of recent sexual assaults in the Oakland area, was a… Campus security, especially in light of recent sexual assaults in the Oakland area, was a main rallying-point at Friday night’s Take Back the Night.

Take Back the Night is a twice-yearly Campus Women Organization-sponsored event that advocates women’s safety issues on campus. CWO President Alison Bodenhemier said it was important to draw more people to the event.

“A lot of people thought the march was kind of derisive,” she said, “and we thought a concert would get more people involved.”

This year, CWO decided to forgo the annual march in favor of live music by the Rain Quartet, a local hip-hop band, and an interpretative dance by the Black Dance Workshop.

“We want to make sure that our dance brings forth the issues and outcomes of domestic violence,” dance coordinator DaKiya Lambert said.

Through the dance, Lambert said, she wanted people to see the effects of domestic violence through creative expression.

CWO invited Ellen Kerr, coordinator of Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, to speak to students and inform them of the work PAAR does.

“We all have the right to be out there at night,” Kerr said. “I like the stars too much to be afraid to go out at night.”

PAAR, which began in 1972, reaches out to survivors of sexual assault by having a 24-hour sexual assault hotline and by educating students about sexual harassment prevention, according to Kerr. PAAR also takes an active role in supporting survivors. Kerr, for example, accompanied several victims of the East End rapist to the hospital.

The Rain Quartet followed the Black Dance Workshop and entertained students with songs infused with women’s empowerment.

“Please don’t let it stop right here, this is the beginning,” Rain Quartet vocalist K-Intellect said. “Take it home, take it to your family, take it to the people on the street. Just don’t let it end here.”

After the Rain Quartet, students held candles in solemn remembrance of those affected by sexual assault. Participants referred to themselves and others affected by violence as “survivors,” because “victims” do not live through their ordeal.

Sexual assault cases are much more common than reports would have people believe, Andrea DeChellis, Student Government Board member and former CWO president, said. She referred to a report issued by the University that reported no rapes in 2001.

“Obviously in an urban campus with 1,500 undergrads living on campus there would be more rapes than that,” DeChellis said.

The problem, she said, is students have to go through a long process of filling out police reports. She called this situation a “kind of a double rape.”

“Other schools have taken measures to ensure that survivors feel more comfortable reporting rape,” she said.

She said, specifically students who are survivors, could be valuable allies in reporting rapes and sexual assaults.

Members of the audience of more than 100 said they enjoyed the event.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” Heather Anderson, president of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs’ Women’s Forum, said. “I love the concert.”

Shabnaum Amjad, vice-president of GSPIA Women’s Forum, agreed, but said she thought more people on camps should have come.

“I’m happy to see the amount of people here,” she said, “but I would like to see more support from the Greek societies.”