Wind and rain could not extinguish the candles and spirits of the estimated 50 students who came to the library roof Tuesday night to rally for awareness and education on domestic abuse. Huddled under umbrellas for the annual "Take Back the Night" event, the crowd listened to speakers encourage women not to live in fear.
The rally, organized by the Tufts Feminist Alliance (TFA), was modeled on a movement started in Belgium in 1976 by the same name. At universities and in cities across the globe, women traditionally walk through the streets during "Take Back the Night" rallies to protest violence against women.
Woman's Center Director Peggy Barrett said she was pleased with the support for the cause, though turnout was half as large as last year.
Sophomore Emily Rhodes, who said the rally is designed to "protest violence against women," organized the event, and read a story about an abused woman.
Although the weather thinned the crowd, those who stayed after the speeches marched down the library steps, past the campus center, and down Professor's Row. As they walked, the students chanted slogans addressing women's equality and rape. "Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no," they said.
The slogans grew louder and were accompanied by noisemakers when the group passed fraternity houses on Professor's Row.
Attendees at the rally represented a broad spectrum of campus activists but very few uninvolved students. Gunenr Gurwitch spoke on behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transsexual (LGBT) community, saying domestic abuse is not limited to acts of violence by men against women, sharing a personal story of abuse by her girlfriend.
Gurwitch said she did not initially understand that her girlfriend was abusing her. "Women's-only areas are supposed to be safe," she said.
Homosexual relationships are just as likely to involve abuse as heterosexual ones, she said, adding that one in four relationships involve some sort of domestic abuse.
Members of the Leonard Carmichael Society and Tufts Collective of Men Against Violence also lent support to the rally. Sophomore Wilnelia Rivera, a women's studies major, said these rallies are important "because they heighten awareness.".
Representatives from different support groups such the Women's Center, TTLGBC, Students Sexual Assault Response Assistance (SSARA), Respond (a local service for battered women and children), and the Tufts University Police Department, spoke at the rally. All groups offer confidential counsel.
Rhodes said the campus is generally safe, but told the Daily that women should "use common sense."
