Marchers question true number of assault cases

By Nicole LaPrade

Despite a lower turnout than past years, the seventh annual "Take Back the Night" march and the "Survivors Speak" events gave participants a chance to remember sexual assault victims and encourage more women to come forward.

About 11 assaults were reported by Santa Clara female students last year, and earlier this month, a student was arrested in connection with a sexual assault.

Still, some advocates say the actual numbers could be much higher. "What I do not know is just how many rapes went unreported here last year," philosophy professor Larry Nelson said at the rally.

He went on to say that he believed that the number of rapes that took place at Santa Clara last year is "probably somewhere between a conservative 20 and possibly 100."

"Take Back the Night" is a national movement that started in the 1970s. In past years, the event has had between 75 and 125 people in attendance, said staff psychologist Jeanne Zeamba. This year, there were about 30.

"We want students to feel comfortable reporting any of these crimes that happen on campus. The vast majority of sexual assaults and rapes occur with somebody that the students know. They're not strangers coming up coming on campus," Zeamba said.

After the "Candlelight March" around campus and the surrounding neighborhood, "Survivor's Speak," an open mic session, gave sexual assault victims and their loved ones a chance to speak about their experiences.

"To hear the voices of the survivors and the loved ones and their pain or rage or fear, it's very, very powerful and hopefully will inform people who might not have known very much about the subject beforehand," Zeamba said.

Junior Sarah Bonnel was pleased that more women were being encouraged to report instances of sexual assault.

"Look at the numbers, the year before last there were five rapes reported on campus, and this last year there were 11, and I don't think it's because a serial rapist moved to campus. I think it's because they're doing a better and better job of getting people to report and getting the numbers to be more reflective of the actual situation," Bonnel said.

She also warned women about the dangers of being assaulted by someone they know. The type of victims at Santa Clara, she said, are "the type of victims that are attacked by people in their classes, attacked by people that are living next door in the dorms, and that's where the real issue is."

Roey Rahmil attended "Take Back the Night" last year and this year and hoped that more people would come out to the event.

"I was just a little bit disappointed at the turnout," Rahmil said. "I'm a CF and tried to get residents there, but it didn't work out that well."

Assistant Dean for Student life Lisa Millora described the changes she has seen in conversations about preventing sexual assault.

"In the time I've been here, I've really seen a shift in the culture," Millora said at the rally. "We've gone from looking at violence against women as something that just happens in the background. We know sexual assault is real but we don't talk about it to really having a conversation that happens regularly."

Two arenas for that conversation are the single-sex peer education groups that Millora advises. The men's program, "One in Four," is in its third year and the women's program, "Every Two Minutes," is in its first. Nearly 80 women attended the first "Every Two Minutes" presentation at Santa Clara on Wednesday.