University of Oregon's Take Back the Night Women's March offers safe space for survivors

Take Back the Night is returning for its 45th annual event at the University of Oregon Thursday evening to recognize and support survivors of sexual assault, abuse and violence.

Hosted by the UO Women's Center, the three-part event will include a rally, a two-mile march and a speak-out, intended to symbolize reclaiming people’s safety on public streets at night.

Fatima Roohi Pervaiz, director of the Women's Center, said the evening will offer a safe space and education for survivors and interested community members.

"We do this event to support survivors of sexual and domestic violence and child abuse, as well as to educate the community in order to help prevent future harm," Roohi Pervaiz said. "Folks aren't aware of what … the spectrum of violence is, they may not even be aware that they are harming someone or folks may not be aware that they have been harmed until this event, which allows survivors to put words with their experience, and then determine if they are a survivor and begin their healing journey to take their power back."

The event is typically widely attended, with 300-500 attendees each year, according to Roohi Pervaiz.

Centering marginalized groups

The rally will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Erb Memorial Union at UO, featuring several speakers, including representatives from the Black community, the Latino community, the Native American and Indigenous community, the Asian community, the LGBTQ community and international voices.

They will provide personal testimonies as well as statistics and resources.

The march will start at the EMU at 7 p.m., leaving the UO campus and walking through the streets of Eugene, eventually returning to UO at the Knight Library South Lawn where the speak-out event will begin at 8 p.m.

The night ends with a student-led speak-out where trained Women's Center Student facilitators will guide discussions. Attendees can share and listen. No UO-affiliated professional staff or media will be present for that event to protect the people who choose to share. Non-UO licensed mental health professionals will be available in a nearby tent for additional assistance.

The focus of this year's Take Back the Night will center on the prison industry and mass incarceration as well as marginalized groups.

Maggie Bertrand, a sexual violence prevention education coordinator at the UO Women's Center and a sociology student at UO, said she wanted to focus on voices that often go unheard. Roohi Pervaiz added that these groups are regularly left out of the conversation.

"There is a huge role of the culture of silence and how people are meant to feel guilt or shame towards their experiences," Bertrand said. "Within the prison industrial complex, there are so many people that are experiencing forms of abuse and violence that are behind closed doors."

There will be presentations with detailed information about the connections between incarceration and abuse, including the experience of giving birth in prison and birthing trauma.

Roohi Pervaiz said each speaker will end their speech with a call to action. She said often the act of spreading the word and keeping the conversation alive can make a change.

She said there will also be outreach tables and community organizations at the event with brochures, cards, pamphlets and other resources for attendees.

"Maya Angelou said 'You did then what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better,'" Roohi Pervaiz said. "Hopefully, if somebody learns one thing from this evening and tells somebody, maybe that will inspire their academic trajectory, or their career trajectory to go on to work in a nonprofit organization that helps to prevent this kind of violence and harm globally or in the United States."

Data on sexual violence at UO

According to the UO Police Department's 2022 reports, there were five reported cases of rape in 2021, nine in 2020 and six in 2019, either on campus or in residential facilities.

There were seven reported instances of fondling in 2021, three in 2020 and 17 in 2019.

Roohi Pervaiz said it's difficult or impossible to determine the true number of survivors. Many never file official police reports.

Roohi Pervaiz said that based on UO's size and student population, research has indicated that, statistically, about 3,250 students will be affected by sexual violence during the school year.

"Because of the culture of silence, and because of shame and stigma and victim blaming, there's a lot of apprehension about reporting," Roohi Pervaiz said.

UOPD offers self-defense classes that are scheduled year-round by request. Most of these courses are free, but there is a cost for classes taken for credit, according to Angela Seydel of UO Communications.

"The university is committed to creating a campus culture where we take care of each other and are actively engaged in addressing issues related to all forms of sexualized violence," Seydel stated. "Resources for prevention, self-care and support to those impacted are available to all."

Creating a safe space

Roohi Pervaiz said creating a safe space is a key aspect of the Take Back the Night events.

The Women's Center prepares for most of the year, ensuring the event is a safe space. For the 22-person team, Roohi Pervaiz said all members of the 22-person team have extensive trauma-informed training.

Roohi Pervaiz also sets firm guidelines for attendees. The event will not tolerate anything that is not survivor-focused.

"All of my students also are living breathing safe spaces and ambassadors with this kind of education and training to spread to the campus community and they're known as, as easily recognizable safe people who work at the Women's Center who can share resources for sexual and domestic violence, safer sex supplies, menstrual supplies, etc.," she said.

Bertrand added that the staff at the Women's Center also can act as just listeners. Sometimes, people need a safe space to vent, which is one of the most widely used resources the center offers.

"There's nothing worse than feeling alone and like you have no nowhere to go, or no community," Roohi Pervaiz said. "That's what Take Back the Night is. It's a community of people who support you, no matter where you are in your journey."

Resources for survivors:

• UO Women’s Center, 541-346-4095, dos.uoregon.edu/women

• UO Care and Advocacy Program (CAP), 541-346-3216

• CAHOOTS mobile crisis intervention, Eugene: 541-682-5111 or Springfield: 541-726-3714

• National sexual assault helpline, 1-800-656-4673

• National domestic violence hotline, 800-799-7233

Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: UO's Take Back the Night Women's March offers safe space