As the sun set on Thursday, the University of St. Thomas campus was a little louder than usual, and according to FemCom, a lot more empowered.
Take Back the Night is a charitable foundation dedicated to helping spread sexual assault awareness and ending all forms of sexual violence. FemCom has organized a march to uphold these ideals and to show solidarity with Sexual Assault Awareness month.
Fem Com is a group on campus that focuses not only gender, but other identities such as race and socioeconomic status.
Shannon Twiss, one of four co-facilitators of FemCom, helped organize the event.
“The idea behind it is gathering together as individuals who always don’t necessarily feel safe at night as individuals or in groups and take back that experience of like walking at night,” Twiss said.
The march started in the Luann Dummer Center for women, moved toward the upper-quad, went to South Campus, and ended in front of the Clothesline Project: a string of clothes with phrases written in support of sexual violence victim-survivors.
Participants were encouraged to make posters, and many carried noisemakers. The group chanted sayings such as “people unite, take back the night” and “whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no.”
The march lasted for approximately a half an hour and ended with a moment of silence for “victim-survivors” in front of the Clothesline Project.
People along the march route were seen clapping and shouting positive things in solidarity, but there was not a shortage of opposition.
A student was spotted with his own protest against the Take Back The Night event. The unidentified male stood outside the OEC with a sign proclaiming the statement that “99 out of 100 women will not be raped.” However, according to the Campus Sexual Assault Study: final report, 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted or raped during college. He quickly left the area as more and more students gathered to make signs.
“This isn’t a political issue, it’s a safety issue,” junior Whitney Oachs said about the opposition.
The march was followed up with a discussion in the Luann Dummer Center for Women.
“I’m overwhelmed in a good way,” first-year Sofia Leyva said after the conclusion of the event. “We supported and validated victim-survivors and that was the end goal.”
Senior Sam Schultz agreed that the march went well, but that there’s more to be done.
“We need to get the word out there more,” she said. “There’s a lack of conversation, especially among my male peers.”
Twiss advocates for the continued support of “victim-survivors”, especially at a Catholic university.
“There’s always room for improvement,” she said.
She also stressed the importance of resources on campus. If a student has been raped or assaulted, there are places students can report it, or confide in someone.
“First I would say talk to your ‘person,’ and then find someone on campus such as the Title IX coordinators or the people in Counseling and Psychological Services,” Twiss said.
Leyva looks forward to another three years of working with Fem Com on campus, as she is being trained in as a new co-facilitator.
“It’s so empowering,” she said.
Abby Sliva can be reached at sliv7912@stthomas.edu