by Rivkela Brodsky
Daily Lobo
According to the FBI, New Mexico is third in the nation for reported sexual assault.
This and other statistics prompted the UNM Women's Law Caucus, a group of female law students, to organize Take Back the Night, an event observing women's struggle against violence Wednesday.
"We go to school here and live here," said Women's Law Caucus representative Ocean Munds-Dry, who helped organize the rally. "It's a way to positively respond."
Take Back the Night was co-sponsored by the UNM Women's Resource Center.
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The first half of the event featured speakers, a question-and-answer period for participants and an open microphone session for victims of sexual assault to speak about their experiences in an attempt to use the opportunity to heal.
Speakers included representatives from the Albuquerque Rape Crisis Center who addressed members of the rally and displayed information.
According to the Rape Crisis Center, in 2001 there were 561 reported rapes in New Mexico, and 336 reported sexual assaults reported so far this year.
This statistic only includes those who reported an assault within five days, according to the crisis center.
An Albuquerque Police Department Sex Crimes detective also spoke to the group and answered questions.
One woman who spoke in the open microphone session talked about attending a Take Back the Night rally while she was an undergraduate at a different university. That event helped her realize she had been a victim of date rape. Once she was able to get in front of people and talk about what happened to her, it was "the beginning of the journey of healing," she said.
Following the open microphone session, observers participated in a candlelight vigil outside the School of Law to, in part, honor survivors of violence, said Summer Little, Women's Resource Center program services coordinator.
Take Back the Night was organized as part of the Week Without Violence. The goal of the event, Little said, was to raise awareness and protest violence against women.
"A lot of people are under the impression that it doesn't happen very often," Little said. According to literature organizers displayed at the rally, one-third of women and one-fifth of men will be victims of sexual assault at some point in their lives.
Although a majority of participants at the rally were women, organizers said men were welcome to attend Take Back the Night.
"It's traditionally about women, not to exclude men, but to put a focus on the particular effect violence has on women."
The low male turnout disappointed freshman elementary education major Kaleen Cleland and sophomore journalism student Lauren Haggerty.
"I'm disappointed there weren't many people," Cleland said. "And that there were no men."
Women's Resource Director Sandrea Gonzales said she felt the goal of Take Back the Night was "to end violence against women, men and children."
