Students met on the steps of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art on Wednesday evening to participate in “Take Back the Night,” an annual event organized by V-Day to raise awareness about sexual violence and support survivors.
“I think the purpose [of this event] is twofold,” said Kaylee Wolfe ’15, one of the event organizers. “It is a show of support and solidarity for people in our community. It’s also an active stand that the Bowdoin community takes every year saying that [sexual violence] is not acceptable and that we’re going to hold our community to a higher standard.”
V-Day is a national organization dedicated to ending violence against women and holds similar events on college campuses and in cities across the globe. The organization first took shape in the 1970s, and has spread to 30 countries since.
Bowdoin has a long-established V-day chapter and has had a “Take Back the Night” event for the past several years.
“What’s great about having this event every year is that we have a lot of institutional support,” said Leah Alper ’17, a co-organizer of the event. “Whether it’s funding, or people like Dean [of Student Affairs Tim] Foster showing up and supporting us, it’s really special how much Bowdoin stands behind the event.”
Wolfe and Alper worked with several other clubs on campus to create the events for the evening. The night began with a candle vigil, including a cup with a candle and fact regarding sexual assault for each attendee and a presentation from representatives across campus who addressed facts regarding sexual assault.
V-Day representative Erica Hummel ’16 and Safe Space leaders Erin Leddy ’15 and Rachel Gladstone ’15 discussed national and local facts about sexual assault. Next, Hassaan Mirza ’17 read aloud a poem addressing sexual assault and an anonymous student shared a personal experience with sexual violence.
Following the speakers’ presentations, the group walked a loop on the edge of campus to symbolically and literally highlight the areas nearby where people may feel in danger.
The walk began at the steps of the museum and continued past the College Houses before ending at the Women’s Resource Center, where co-ed a cappella group BOKA performed two songs. Safe Space members were present in red shirts to speak with anyone in need of advice, and many students remained to chat with friends and reflect on the event.
“I really liked the structure of [the event]. It was very somber and gave us a chance to really reflect, but definitely ended on a happy and hopeful note,” said Hailey Beaman ’18.
Alper and Wolfe expressed excitement at the variety of students that the event drew.
“A neat characteristic of this event is that it just pulls from so many different parts of campus. Sometimes it feels like we see many of the same faces at the gender violence events, but we see so many different people at this event,” said Wolfe.
Alper and Wolfe had been concerned about turnout, since the event was postponed from the previous week due to weather and because it rained throughout the evening Wednesday night. Despite the poor weather, nearly 150 students were present for the candle vigil and the walk around campus.
“We were surprised by how many people showed up despite the weather.” Wolfe said. “Just the fact that people were willing to stay out, do the walk and come to 24 College St. in spite of being rained on makes the event and its purpose more powerful.”