Women stand against violence

“We are women, we are strong. Violence against us has lived too long.”

Students and faculty spoke out for victims Tuesday in Dunn Meadow at the 22nd annual Take Back the Night, an event promoting awareness of domestic violence, sexual assault and rape.

Jennifer Meece, 22, was found dead in her IU apartment on June 15, 2000. Her boyfriend choked her to death before shooting himself in the head.

This is just one of the stories about rape and violence on or near campus.

Leila Voyles-Wood, one of crisis intervention’s services coordinator for the Middle Way House, has been attending the event since she was 9 years old.

“I am deeply devoted to the movement,” Voyles-Wood said. “Women and men come together and talk about something that is hard to talk about. We want to impose a light on those who are too often isolated in the shadows.”

And speaking out was one of the main messages of the event.

“Silence is violence,” said Yvette Alex-Assensoh, dean of the Office for Women’s Affairs. “When we as individuals silence, we engage in violent acts.”

About 95 percent of all sexual assaults include men as the perpetrators, said Rashawn Ray, a sociology Ph.D. candidate who works in the Office for Women’s Affairs.

“It is time for men to be held more accountable for their actions in public opinion and in the courts,” Ray said. “It should be noted that some of these men do not approve of these violent acts yet most of us watch these incidents just as bystanders on a regular basis. It is time for us to speak out and speak up when we see these incidents in our daily lives.”

Even though sexual assault may not always affect men directly, it affects the women who comprise a big part of their lives.

“Let’s speak up,” Ray said. “How about we speak up for our mothers, for our sisters, for our wives, for our fiances, our girlfriends and our friend girls? In fact let’s speak up for our fathers, our brothers, our sons and our male friends.”

Another speaker was Eva Feldman, a mother whose daughter was raped during her freshman year at IU. As she was baking cookies for the final care package she was going to send to her daughter, the phone rang.

“I am not prepared for what comes next, though,” Feldman said. “I hear sobbing and the pain in her voice. In an instant I know that this goes beyond grades, homesickness or roommate problems. During this phone call I learn the excruciating details of how she was raped in her college dormitory.”

Although Take Back the Night is a well-known event on campus, the attendance was small.

“It is disheartening that there are not more people here,” said Debbie Melloan, a sexual assault crisis service counselor at the IU Health Center. “There is always a need to create awareness and we need to show the support that we care.”