Move Over: Take Back the Night

By Nathaniel E. Ward | Monday, April 26, 2004

Protesting violence against women, about thirty students—many of them fraternity members there at the behest of their organizations—marched across campus last Friday in the annual "Take Back the Night" rally. Organizers cited the twenty reported rapes and attempted rapes on campus last year, and claimed that there were as many as twenty times that number since so few are reported to authorities.

— They didn't even make their own signs. —

The sparsely-attended demonstration drew roughly half the number of students as last year, and few seemed eager to participate. Early on in the rally, only women were participating in the chants and the audience barely responded to the speeches, clapping listlessly. By the halfway mark, organizer Vanessa Vega '05 noticed that only she and Abby Tassel, the College's Sexual Abuse Awareness director, were chanting, and reminded marchers that "it works if you talk." As the event neared its end at the center of the Green, the demonstrators were entirely silent.

During the procession across campus, the protesters' Safety and Security escort stopped traffic. Passers-by seemed largely indifferent to the unenthusiastic shouting and peered, curious, at the signs before quickly continuing on their way. Nobody joined the march after it started, and many of the fraternity members in attendance dropped out once the group reached Webster Avenue.

Starting in front of the Hopkins Center, the students walked first along the south end of the Green to the Collis Center. There, a student spoke about the atrocities committed against Japanese sex slaves during World War Two, and made a comparison between the plight of women then and now. Next, on Tuck Mall, Caroline Kerr '05 spoke about her own experiences with sexual assault and the strong Dartmouth community that allowed her to organize the winter "speak-out" against sexual violence. She also noted that rape does not happen to "one person in the wrong place on the wrong night."

Mike Newton '04, the only male speaker during the rally, was also the only one to advocate specific policies instead of describing past abuses. Speaking in front of Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity on behalf of the Myn's Project, a pro-feminist advocacy group for campus men, he said he sought to "make sure that this street [Webster Avenue] is as safe as any other street" for women. All but two fraternities have completed voluntary sessions with the Men's Project, Mr. Newton said, with the remaining houses set to hold talks later this term.

Instead of accepting blame, Mr. Newton explained, men should take an active role in preventing sexual violence, which he labeled "greater humanity's problem." As members of fraternities and sports teams, and even individually, he said, "men have a unique responsibility to stop sexual assault." In addition, he said he opposed many feminists' depiction of men "as ground zero, as the enemy."

A candlelight vigil at the center of the Green concluded the hour-long demonstration. Supplied with candles by Ms. Tassel, participants were encouraged to explain for whom they held the flame. Participants stood silently during a short a cappella concert.

Veteran protesters engineered this year's demonstration; few others were spurred to contribute. One woman who spoke in front of a diminished crowd on the Rauner Library steps described herself as a "professional feminist" and she admitted she had attended "Take Back the Night" for ten consecutive years. Ms. Tassel provided all the placards, candles, and turquoise solidarity ribbons. She even handed out four-page sheets with chants for the marchers, including the "Battle Hymn of Women," a song bemoaning the long oppression of women that mentions sexual assault not even once; it threatens men to "move on over or we'll move on over you."

Move Over: Take Back the Night

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