JIALIN CHEN
Special to The Leader
Last week, the Women’s Student Union hosted Take Back the Night, an annual event that sheds light on sexual assault and gives students a safe place to share their stories with others. There was an atmosphere of sadness and anger throughout the room as various audience members stood up one by one and shared stories from their pasts.
Statistics were presented at the beginning of the event by the co-presidents of WSU, Dean Bavisotto and Rae Ongley. Ongley stated that more than one-fourth of undergraduate women are assaulted during their college years. Their perpetrators often walk free or are only briefly convicted.
McCrady Magwood, a senior social work major, spoke about his newfound courage to speak about his personal experience at the event.
“It was tough. This [narrative] was unplanned. Last year, I couldn’t. But this year I did,” said Magwood.
He continued, “I finally got the relief that I wanted. The relationship was haunting me for so many years. My friends told me that ‘his problems aren’t yours,’ and I felt that I was psychologically manipulated.”
In attendance was Dakota Pramesa, a sophomore computer information systems and biochemistry double major. “It’s important to raise awareness. I hope we can get the number [of sexual assaults] down to zero,” he said.
The sharing portion of the event lasted for about two hours and was followed by a candlelight vigil, where candles were lit in honor of all survivors of sexual assault.
Shannon Bentley, secretary of WSU, said that Take Back the Night brings the entire Fredonia community together.
“We just saw three more tallies up on the board [where people marked, indicating that they had been assaulted on campus]. That is so … undermined by those that don’t believe those victims,” said Bentley.
“There is a campus community [WSU] here to listen to them,” she added, “ … it provides closure for them.”
The speakers included the members of WSU and a general student body that told shocking details of their own past experiences in a safe setting. The walls of McEwen 209 permeated a strong sense of security and comfort that could not be experienced in the day time. From the first break of silence, the audacious speakers have let down their guards to retell their traumatic pasts that did not seem so distant to them.
For the first couple of minutes, there was a brief duration of silence as the audience searched for the first speaker to take the lead to speak. In minutes, there was an undeviating line of students that walked up to the center of the room. As shock and silence filled the room, eye contacts with the speakers were gestures of assurance that the stories were kept confidential within the room.
Sitting casually on the table as if they were having a conversation with close friends, they let down their guards and confided to the audience members. A group of individuals that were present for a common purpose. The level of trust was built with the audience members that truly wanted to be agents of change as they can bring others that are silent due to their own personal encounters of domestic, sexual and mental abuse.
Bentley mentioned the significance of this annual event: “This really solidifies what WSU is for this campus, community … it’s a safe place for anyone all genders … every person on campus has a voice, and they can be represented through women’s student union. Take back the night is a unifying event.”
The audience comprised of students that were determined to be the agents of change to advocate for the legitimate cause that harms the mental and emotional health of students.
Audience members were touched by the courageousness of the speakers and were made aware of the struggles that college students face while battling their pasts.
“I felt a lot of emotions,” said Pramesa. “All the things that happened to them … It made me feel sad and angry.”
The event, held on behalf of the Take Back the Night Foundation, hopes to bring awareness to the issue of sexual assault. The coordinators hope that attendees will come back in future years and maybe even bring others that may benefit from the event.
“I hope [with this event] that people can seek the help that they still need, or [it can] just provide closure for them from the traumatic events that have happened to them,” said Bentley. “It’s to give those people who don’t have a voice, a voice.”
For more information on Take Back the Night, visit http://www.takebackthenight.org. For more information on sexual assault, visit http://www.fredonia.edu/counseling/.