KentNewsNet.com

Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: News

The Women's Liberation Collective, a student organization, hosted Take Back the Night, a protest against sexual assault on women, last night. The group walked the campus yelling such phrases as "Whatever we dress, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no!" Jessica M. Kanalas | Daily Kent Stater

About 30 marchers chanted this protest walking down Main Street last night. Beth Vild, marcher and member of the Women's Liberation Collective, led the pack as an "opportunity to voice frustrations," she said.

A bongo drummed a beat for the trek as the students shouted. Marchers carried signs reading "Three out of four times a rape victim knows their assailant" and "Hey hoho, date rape has got to go."

At about 9 p.m., students banded together on the corner of Main and Water streets. The Take Back the Night march was part of the

Women's Liberation Collective's Week of Action.

Before their march began, they listened intently to Vild state various definitions of sexual assault, varying from assault by someone the victim knows or a stranger. Every two minutes a woman in the United States is sexually assaulted, she said. People in the small crowd bowed their heads and held candles in red plastic cups for a two-minute silence.

"We've had a couple of friends raped in the past, we just want to show support for them," said Stacy Link, junior business management major. She and her three friends found out about the march from a human sexuality class.

Another student showed support for his sister, who has been raped, by attending the march.

"A lot of people get off way too easy in the court system," said Ian Clubbs, a freshman French major. He said the march was a way for students to do something for a good cause, whether they know a victim or not.

Vild emphasized to the crowd and passersby on the street that date rape is especially present on a college campus.

This is the fourth semester the organized march has taken place.

The march is a symbolic way for the participants to get their anger out about sexual assault on women and voice their concerns, Vild said.

She got people involved through Facebook and MySpace messages and word of mouth.

After the long walk through campus, the group had a speak-out. They gathered at the Women's Resource Center to talk about their own experiences and assaults of people they knew.

They finished the walk still shouting, " Two, four, six, eight, no more date rape," hoping to get their message out to Kent residents.

Contact student affairs reporter Jessica Roblin at jroblin1@kent.edu.

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