Issue date: 10/26/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Jamey Davidsmeyer Senior English major Nicole Dust plays guitar as she and sophomore English education major, Alice Riddle perform the song "Damaged" at Take Back the Night in the Brown Ballroom of the Bone Student Center, Monday night.

Students and the community braved the cold Monday night as they marched from ISU to Illinois Wesleyan University to make a stand against sexual and domestic violence.

"Sexual assaults happen in every city, every campus... the hardest part is that most of it goes unreported. Tonight we as a community of students and as a community of Bloomington-Normal are taking a stand that we are not going to allow [sexual and domestic violence] to continue," Lisa Berube, community liaison for the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, said.

"Take Back the Night" has been an annual event at ISU for more than 10 years. This is the first year ISU and IWU have worked together on this event.

The night started at ISU with speakers and music before students and community organizations marched to IWU where a town hall-type forum was held on preventative measures for sexual and domestic assaults.

The Gorilla Theatre Troupe performed sexual violence scenarios and songs while local organizations like Stepping Stones and the Neville House provided information on victims' rights and places they can go.

"The Neville House has many locations throughout the area and there is free counseling, free legal services...and there is even a bilingual interpreter available. We want the victims to know that they have options," according to Marina, a law enforcement advocate for the Normal Police Department who does not release her last name for safety reasons.

"The number [of victims] we see has increased over the years. We normally see around 800 males and females each year. So far we've seen over 700 and the year is not even over yet. I think it's a combination of increasing assaults and also more people coming forward," Marina said.

ISU gets around 40 reported assaults each year, though the vast majority goes unreported, according to Gail Trimpe-Morrow, sexual assault prevention coordinator at ISU.

"There are so many misconceptions...you were always told to beware of strangers but in reality 80 to 90 percent of sexual assaults happen with acquaintances," Trimpe-Morrow said.

Trimpe-Morrow added that 75 percent of assaults involving ISU students happen off campus and that the majority involve alcohol.

Berube said the "Take Back the Night" campaign is also about women standing up for themselves.

"Things like [ISUskanks.com] is not a sexual assault but this is our response as a community saying that we will not allow women to be degraded like that," Berube said.

Senior health education major Scott Koscielak also addressed the issue of men being sexually assaulted.

Student Health Services reported that about 5 percent of assault survivors are males.

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