Women and Men Take Back the Night had a new focus this year. A committee comprised of Loyola and Tulane staff and students voted on the bystander focus, which the event’s Bystander Pledge emphasized.

Participants in Women and Men Take Back the Night were invited to sign the pledge and wear the event’s light blue T-shirt as a symbol that they will make an effort to end sexual assault against women and men.

Roger White, vice provost of academic affairs and an associate professor, spoke at the event.

“I think we can change the culture,” White said, encouraging the community to “read the pledge, think about the pledge, sign the pledge and act on the pledge.”

Ilyse Goldberg, assistant director of university counseling and one of the organizers of this year’s Take Back the Night, said prior to the event the committee of organizers wants to focus on the community’s approach to sexual assault.

“Through that, we hope to change both the culture and the sexual violence that occurs against men and women,” Goldberg said.

The planning committee decided to give away the event T-shirt this year, another change from previous years. T-shirts used to be sold and the money went towards the funds raised during Take Back the Night for local organizations that are associated with sexual assault.

This year, the T-shirts were given away to those who signed the Bystander Pledge. By giving them away, Goldberg said the committee hoped more people would donate to the organizations present at the event or buy raffle tickets.

Raffle prizes included gift baskets, gift certificates and items from local shops such as Mignon Faget, Belladonna and CC’s Coffee.

The money raised by donations and raffle tickets from this year’s Take Back the Night will go to Crescent City House, a shelter run by Catholic Charities; Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners and Metropolitan Center for Women and Children.

Goldberg also said she hoped that other student organizations would be at the event. Loyola University Community Action Program was present, as was Tulane’s Rape Emergency, Awareness and Coping Hotline. Michael Giorlando, director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Wellness, said he would send the athletic teams that weren’t playing games or traveling, Goldberg said.

The main speaker, Julia Bacon, a Tulane student, spoke about her experience with sexual assault. Bacon has never spoken at a Take Back the Night event before. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote — “Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter.” — inspired her to speak out about her sexual assault.

Monica Filos, psychology junior, said the personal stories are always the hardest to listen to, referring to Bacon’s speech. Filos has attended Take Back the Night since she came to Loyola.

As is tradition at Women and Men Take Back the Night, the first candle of the march was lit in honor of Leanne Knot, a Tulane University social work student who was raped and murdered in 1997. Two Tulane social work students, Roxanne Franklin and Rachel Seidman, lit the first candle.

Students marched holding the candles down St. Charles Avenue to Broadway, then from Broadway to Zimple and into Tulane’s Rogers Chapel.

In Rogers Chapel, organizers invited members of the community to make statements regarding sexual assault on an open microphone, and asked the media not to report on this portion of the event in order to protect the confidentiality of those who chose to speak.

Hayden Lindsey, psychology pre-med senior, said, “I’ve never been before, and I’m kind of upset that I haven’t.” For him, the open microphone part in Rogers Chapel was the most meaningful, especially seeing people he had seen around campus get up and tell their stories.

Jessica Erwin can be reached at [email protected].