Aubre Dean waited eagerly in the pews of Hendricks Chapel for the start of Take Back the Night 2019.

Though Dean was there to represent the Syracuse University Student Bar Association and Women Law Students Association, the event was personal — Dean lost a family member to domestic violence.

“I think starting early with spreading knowledge of how to prevent it and how to see the signs for young people is so important,” said Dean, a second-year law student.

Dean, along with about 200 more students, gathered for the Take Back the Night rally on Wednesday night, an annual event that brings awareness to sexual and relationship violence.

Marches, speeches and rallies are held on campuses and in communities around the world throughout April as part of the annual event, according to the Office of Health Promotion. This year’s event was co-organized by the Office of Health Promotion, Students Advocating Sexual Safety and Empowerment, known as SASSE, and SU’s chapter of It’s On Us, a sexual and relationship violence prevention organization.

Senior Amy Buhrmaster spoke at the beginning of the event, at Hendricks Chapel. Buhrmaster shared her experience of telling several of her men friends that she had been groped and touched at a bar during spring break.

“This conversation could have gone several ways: they could have made jokes, completely changed the topic, or sat there in awkward silence,” Buhrmaster said.

Instead, one friend asked if it was just as bad at SU, to which she replied, “Oh, yeah.” Another friend said they were sorry, and that they didn’t know the reality of the situation. She said it can be difficult for someone to realize the prevalence of an issue when it’s not personally experienced. It wasn’t that her friends were unaware that such experiences were happening, but they didn’t know how bad it was, she said.

Take Back the Night events are held on campuses and communities around the world. Corey Henry | Staff Photographer

“For once, I wasn’t starting the conversation,” Buhrmaster said. “I wish more men would have these conversations.”

Participants later flooded the steps of Hendricks Chapel and marched toward Marshall Street. People rotated between chants such as “Syracuse unite, Take Back the Night” and “Yes means yes, no means no, whatever we wear, wherever we go.”

Attendees marched to show support in different ways: Junior Ashley Signore, clutching a sign reading “No excuse for abuse,” came to support Buhrmaster, her big in the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. Senior Remembrance Scholar Martina Morris said she came to show solidarity by being present — listening and marching along others. Junior Michelle Wan attended alongside her sisters in the Sigma Psi Zeta sorority, whose philanthropy involves helping victims of domestic violence.

Senior Claudia Heritage said she came to be an “ally” to victims of sexual assault and relationship violence.

“You can be an active bystander by being at an event like this,” Heritage said.

Before the march, Hendricks Chapel Dean Brian Konkol spoke of three promises regarding the chapel: it is a place where people can belong, become and bestow, Konkol said.

“We become something, together, that we couldn’t have been if we had stayed home tonight,” he said.

Dean of Students Robert Hradsky and Associate Vice President and Chief Equal Opportunity Officer Sheila Johnson-Willis spoke together after Konkol and praised “significant efforts” made by SU to combat sexual assault. This included the creation of Chancellor Kent Syverud’s task force on sexual and relationship violence and signing on to the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, they said.

The event included speakers, a skit and a march through the back of Hendricks Chapel, Marshall Street and Walnut Avenue. Corey Henry | Staff Photographer

“It’s clear our community is committed to ending sexual and relationship violence,” Hradsky said.

Posters adorned with yellow stars covered the upper balconies and stage in Hendricks Chapel. Johnson-Willis said these were signed by individual community members and represented their promise to help end interpersonal violence.

They represented future actions to help prevent violence and make the world a “safer and more equitable place,” Johnson-Willis said.

Following their speech, student peer educators performed a skit about slut shaming, explaining prosocial bystander tactics used to stop situations of slut shaming and body shaming.

Rebecca Ortiz, an assistant professor of advertising in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, delivered the keynote address. She said that, despite the progress that has been made to combat sexual assault, there is still a stigma when victims come forward.

Ortiz said she’s witnessed showcases of “immense empathy” from SU students. She said she once heard girls checking in on another girl in a bathroom stall, asking if they were OK. A professor at SU since 2016, Ortiz said she has seen similar actions by many other students.

“There’s nothing more powerful than giving someone the respect and love they deserve,” Ortiz said.

Published on March 28, 2019 at 12:42 am

Contact Natalie: nrrubiol@syr.edu