Just as the clock tower tolled at 9:30 p.m., a group of Whitman students and community members assembled in front of Memorial Hall and stood silently.  

Then junior Laura Deering read the statistics: One in six women and one in 33 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. College age women are four times more likely to be assaulted. 60 percent of women don’t report the assault to the police.  

“Take Back the Night” started at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, Apr. 30. Holding candles, participants walked across campus and through part of downtown Walla Walla to show their support for those who have experienced sexual assault. But more than that, “Take Back the Night” was about empowerment.

“Survivors of sexual assault are the most important part of ‘Take Back the Night,'” said junior Jacqueline Kamm. “The rally offers survivors of violence an opportunity to voice their experiences and publicly affirm their transition from ‘victim’ to ‘survivor.'”

This event has been held at Whitman for the past 19 years, according to Associate Dean of Students Barbara Maxwell.

This year it was organized by Deering, Kamm and junior Nickie Schulz. According to Maxwell, events such as this one are important because even if a person is not a perpetrator of sexual assault, he or she could still be condoning it.

“One person in a community might engage in an unacceptable behavior, but how many people stood by and ignored, justified, tolerated or perpetuated that behavior in some way? We have to be vigilant against all forms of sexual violence as well as any type of behavior that allows it to continue,” said Maxwell. “I believe that each member of our community can make a difference in ending sexual violence”

Paco Leos, a student at Walla Walla Community College, found out about the event through a club at his school and came because he wanted to show support for some friends of his.  

He wished the community could have been more involved.

“We all want to ‘take back the night,’ not just Whitman students,” he said.

Kamm said that connecting with non-Whitman affiliates is something she would like to see improved about the march in the future.

“If somebody from the community were to see us, would they know what was happening? Maybe not. That’s probably something we need to work on,” she said. “But my hope is that when people see us marching and ask why, maybe that will start a conversation. This event has the potential to get observers to talk about sexual assault.”

Open-mic performances were held in Reid after the march to urge people to talk about sexual assault. The Sirens of Swank sang “Arms of an Angel” and junior Karina Kidd read the poem “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou.

Then the tone became more serious when Deering told a story about a guy at a party who grabbed her inappropriately. She said that while this may seem like a small action, ignoring it is what allows it to turn into something serious.

“I thought, what if he was alone with a girl, what would he do then? I’ve heard so many stories like this and it always shocks me how often these things happen. But no one talks about them. That’s what I want, for us as a group to be able to talk about these things with our friends. If we refuse to talk about small inappropriate touches, how can we expect to be comfortable talking about the much more invasive and personally damaging ones?” she said.

After Deering’s story, more people felt courage to speak,  

“I was really struck by the women who got up with their friends because they obviously had a really difficult time and needed support. It’s such a new experience, they’re still feeling the beginning of the pain, and it’s amazing to see people talk about these things when they are still so fresh,” she said. “It was really moving.”