Raising awareness to prevent sexual violence is a process. But one of the first, and most essential, steps is to not be afraid to speak out.

Hundreds poured into Hendricks Chapel on Wednesday night to use their voices against sexual violence, cramming into pews on the balcony and the main floor for Take Back the Night.

Take Back the Night is an annual event, held internationally and at Syracuse University, that aims to end all forms of sexual violence and discuss the culture that perpetuates violence. Advocates around the world rally for the cause, but students and staff coordinated the event at SU through the Advocacy Center.

The rally begins in Hendricks Chapel, circles around the campus in a parade of signs and chanting and then returns to the chapel for a candlelit speak out where victims and allies can discuss sexual violence in an intimate setting.

Chancellor Kent Syverud spoke at the beginning of his first Take Back The Night at SU. He said the event sends a message that creating a violence-free community is the responsibility of the entire university.

“It’s a goal that we, as a university and a society, desperately need to reach,” Syverud said.

SU is lucky, he said, to have a culture of caring and respect promoted by a collection of vastly different groups, such as peer facilitators, Sex Esteem, A Men’s Issue, the Health Center and the Department of Public Safety.

“These groups do great work, but we all play a part in making this a campus that is a safe space for all,” Syverud said. “Together, we can raise awareness tonight, and this week, and all over this campus.”

This year’s keynote speaker was Marc Peters, a 2008 SU alumnus who is now the global communications and campaigns manager at MenEngage, a coalition that works with boys and men to promote gender equality. Peters was also a speaker at Take Back the Night his senior year at SU, when he first shared his experiences growing up witnessing his mother being emotionally abused for almost 20 years.

He relived watching his mother, who he said was his role model, be broken down every day by “this monstrosity of a person.” He said when he first shared this speech, it helped him overcome the burden of his memory.

“Something that could have owned you for an immense period of time is now something you’re starting to take ownership of,” Peters said.

He ended his speech with the story of a monk who sought to change the world but realized it was too big, so he narrowed the focus to his country, then his community and then his family. Peters said that eventually, the monk realized the only thing he could change was himself, and that would affect his family, his community, his country and the world.

“When we look at all the horrors and evils that exist out in the world, it can be really daunting,” Peters said. “What can we possibly do that’s going to make the world a better place? It starts in spaces like this.”

Take Back the Night is a refusal to let violence continue to slide under the radar, said Stephanie Martinez, a student volunteer and senior bio industry major. It takes events like Take Back the Night, she said, to remind people of the terrible things that have become normalized.

“It’s difficult to stop violence altogether, but awareness is a big thing,” Martinez said. “If you make one person aware, you’re making two other people aware because that person will tell others and then it’s spreading a message.”

After the speakers, student volunteers lined the stage holding signs that said, “I stand with survivors because…” and they each stepped forward to recite their reasons.

Maren Daly, a member of Take Back the Night’s planning committee and a senior psychology major, stepped forward and said, “I stand with survivors because no one should stand alone.”

Daly said she has always stood by her friends whenever they needed someone to look out for them. She said she thinks it has something to do with her height, because she is six feet two inches tall.

“I have a lot of experience with being the protector,” she said. “I’m that friend that people call and say, ‘This just happened to me, will you come get me?’ And I say, ‘yes.’”

Daly is a member of Every Five Minutes, a theater troupe within the Advocacy Center that educates and interacts with audiences about sexual and relationship violence. She joined the planning committee because Take Back the Night is an event that reinforces everything the Advocacy Center stands for, she said.

“I saw my friends deal with some serious issues, and I wanted to learn more,” Daly said. “I wanted to get involved, I wanted to see what I could do to take back the night, to prevent this.”

Growing up, Daly said she developed an empowered outlook, different than many of her peers. She was raised by lesbian moms who embraced feminism, which she said people negatively associate with bra-burners.

“For me, what feminism means is you think women are people too, or you don’t,” Daly said. “Obviously, I was raised by women, so they think that they are people.”

Daly said she was aware of the discrimination her mothers faced and it began to shape her passion for social issues, because she had developed an understanding for being victimized. Being from a nontraditional family, Daly said she was always put in a position to educate people.

“People are always asking me questions about it, ‘what’s it like,’ and ‘which one of your moms acts like a man,’” she said. “So when I grew up having to educate people, I got a passion for educating people about all kinds of things, particularly, social justice issues.”

After Daly and other students left the stage, Rev. Dr. Tiffany Steinwert, dean of Hendricks Chapel, stepped up to the podium. She said Hendricks is the heart of the SU community, both literally and metaphorically, and she began to rally the crowd.

“Syracuse unite,” Steinwert said.

“Take back the night,” the crowd said in response.

They went back and forth, until the crowd was so riled up that Steinwert didn’t need to call back anymore. She stood in silence as the crowd chanted on their own.

“This is a serious endeavor,” Steinwert said, once the crowd had died down. “I hope you let your voice be heard.”

Published on April 10, 2014 at 1:50 am