Take Back the Night is a national movement that began in Belgium in 1976. At first, the movement was primarily concerned with the role of pornography in perpetuating violence against women. Today, however, on many college campuses nationwide, student-run Take Back the Night chapters largely focus on sexual assault and domestic violence. The first march at Columbia University was organized at Barnard College as a product of a Seven Sisters conference. The march was held in April of 1988, with a participation of nearly 200 students. Since then, march attendance has grown every year. Take Back The Night has also expanded in terms of the activities it offers, as well as broadening the focus of the group to include domestic violence in addition to sexual assault and rape. The march and speakout are the culmination of a year’s worth of programming about these issues.

Any woman or man from any undergraduate or graduate program of Columbia University can join Take Back the Night, or simply stop in and visit during our meetings. Men interested in working on these issues with TBTN are also welcome to contact Columbia Men Against Violence.

A brief note about the structure of the march: TBTN is aware of the problems presented by separating the march on the basis of gender. We are currently discussing these issues as a group and a community. The lack of change in structure this year is not a result of ignoring the issue but is instead a reflection of on-going discussion and education.

Statement of Purpose

Rape is a hate-crime. Sexual assault is an act of violence – not an expression of sexual desire. It is a brutal assertion of control that can happen in any relationship, to either women or men.

Sexual violence is an epidemic. Yet the institutions of our society insist on treating this violence as a series of unrelated, isolated incidents. This mentality dictates that we keep off the streets, that when we are harassed we should take it as a compliment, that when we are raped we should get over it. Most security advice offered to survivors is based on a blame-the-victim mentality. Too often the survivor is interrogated instead of the perpetrator. They tell us it happened because we were on the street, or at home; because we were in the office, or in the classroom; because we were out at night, or during the day; because we were off campus, or our clothes were too tight; because we are queer, or we have the wrong kind of sex; because we are the wrong color, or the wrong class; because we are transgendered; because we are the wrong religion; because we drank too much, or were out studying too late; because boys will be boys; because we were not in our bedrooms, but in the wrong neighborhood. They tell us it didn’t really happen because we were dating the person; because women cannot rape, because men cannot be assaulted.

There is no end to the list of excuses. Tonight we remind ourselves that there are no excuses. Excuses serve only to perpetuate the violence. They silence us by convincing us that we are alone, and by ignoring the fact that the violence we face is often interconnected – sexual violence is often motivated by the same hatred that fuels racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, and religious bias. Excuses silence men who have been sexually assaulted along with survivors assaulted by women. They deny our power of survival. These excuses focus solely on our fears. These fears confine us and make us limit our own activities instead of demanding an end to sexual violence.

The excuses end here. Tonight is a night of survival in the most active sense of the word. Tonight is a night of empowerment. We march together as women, demonstrating the strength in our numbers. Sexual assault is disproportionately committed against women; it is often gender-based. Tonight we reclaim the streets as our own safe space. We march because every women has the right to walk at night without fear. We shout to combat the silence that is forced upon us.

Tonight is also a night of unity. We march with men in the community to demonstrate our solidarity against the violence that affects all of us, as both male and female survivors, and as co-survivors who share the pain of our partners, our friends, and our families. We march because we recognize that only together can we break the cycle of violence. With rage we march and with strength we speak.

Take back the day. Take back the night. Take back our bodies. Take up the fight.

THE MARCH: every year, over 1,000 students march to take back the night...