The Office of Sexual Assault and Relationship Abuse Education and Response (SARA) sponsored Stanford’s annual Take Back the Night event on Monday.

Started in the 1970’s, Take Back the Night is a non-profit which promotes its eponymous yearly event including a rally, a march and a speak out against sexual violence. An estimated 500 students, faculty and staff attended this year’s event at Stanford, which was co-sponsored by over 50 student organizations, academic departments and offices.

Jessica Hernandez ‘16, a student staff member for SARA and a Peer Health Educator (PHE), helped contact student groups for co-sponsorship. To be a co-sponsor, Greek letter organizations needed at least 10 percent of their membership to attend the event, and at least five students were required to attend for any non-Greek student group.

“The interesting thing about the new campus climate is that a lot of people, especially now, want to be involved, so getting people to co-sponsor was not hard,” Hernandez said.

After several speakers and performances in White Plaza, the protesters marched silently around the Main Quad and gathered at Hillel for a speak out.

According to Angela Exson, assistant dean and director of SARA, the issue of sexual violence is vital to the campus community because it affects people of every gender, color and sexual orientation.

“We try to incorporate some performing artists; we try to incorporate a variety of different types of speakers, students and folks from across the campus to really show how broad and wide-ranging these issues are, and to really show why everyone should care,” Exson said.

Hernandez said that as a PHE, she hopes to make her freshmen residents aware of the prevalence of sexual violence not just across the country, but right here on campus.

“The national statistics are the same as the ones here at Stanford: one in four women will be assaulted in college, at this university specifically,” she said, adding, “For the most part, freshmen have never had the opportunity to have these conversations before.”

Jarreau Bowen ‘07, M.A. ‘08, associate director of the Office of Alcohol Policy and Education, spoke during the rally about how much more awareness there needs to be.

“With [over] 350 people in this audience, there are still almost 14,000 students who aren’t here. The reality is that this entire campus should be filled tonight,” Bowen said. “I cannot tell you how much it warms my heart to be able to see a crowd this large. At the same time I can’t tell you how sad I am because…we still are in the place where we were when I grew up…where people are still suffering in silence.”

SARA Assistant Director Carley Flanery agreed that everyone on campus should be made aware of sexual violence but noted the record high numbers at this year’s event. She also pointed out that perhaps not everyone is comfortable attending Take Back the Night but can help the cause by promoting healthy relationship skills in their own lives.

“My vision would be that everyone would be communicating with their partners, would start doing that if they’re not doing that already, and they would be asking for consent and they would be making that a part of their everyday life,” Flanery said. “These healthy relationship skills are not limited to interactions that folks have prior to and during sexual activity. They’re life skills, and so providing opportunities for that and for folks to integrate that into their daily life I think is a goal for this campus community.”

Exson encourages students to get involved by participating in events and coming to talks during Sexual Assault Awareness Month as well as continuing the ongoing activism around campus.

“The more we raise awareness, and the more events like this are happening, it gives voice to those who may not feel like they have a voice and who may not feel like their needs and issues are really being heard,” she said. “Those are the origins of Take Back the Night: breaking the silence and the shame and the guilt and the isolation that a lot of people feel being survivors or being impacted by these issues. “