Captured: Students march to raise awareness of sexual assault, support survivors

April 21, 2016

Welcome to The Daily’s photo blog: Captured. This will be a space to share photos by The Daily’s staff as well as photos from members of our community. Students can submit entries to be considered from their classes, vacation or just from around NU by emailing [email protected].

More than 150 students marched down Sheridan Road on Thursday in Take Back the Night’s annual march, shouting chants such as “Hey hey! Ho ho! Patriarchy’s gotta go!”

“Don’t only take back the night,” said Olivia Ortiz, a senior at the University of Chicago who attended the march. “But take back this campus.”

Ortiz, a student activist for sexual assault survivors and a survivor herself, opened the march with a call to action for students to demand college campuses be safe and free of rapists. The march is part of Take Back the Night, a week-long series of events organized by Northwestern College Feminists to raise awareness about sexual assault.

Video by Anika Henanger/The Daily Northwestern

Weinberg junior Arielle Zimmerman, co-chair of Take Back the Night, said for most of the year, there are no events designated for survivors to be heard. This week is an opportunity for that need to be fulfilled.

“As a feminist, it’s really important to talk about violence and talk about ways it affects different people, not just women, but men and people who are gender non-conforming,” Zimmerman told The Daily.

Students continued down Sheridan Road from The Rock, finishing at Norris University Center. Under painted banners declaring the gravity of sexual assault on campus, students chanted, “Yes means yes. No means no. Whatever we wear. Wherever we go.”

The evening ended with a “Speakout” at Dittmar Gallery where survivors could share stories.

Weinberg freshman Haley Rolff, who served on the planning committee, said she wanted to help with the event because she knows people affected by sexual assault.

“I want people to know that it’s still a problem on campus,” Rolff told The Daily. “People don’t talk about it, but it’s still a problem.“

Ben Goldberg/The Daily Northwestern

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