Anti-violence rally to reach CSULB

By Gerald Frazier
Daily Forty-Niner

Cal State Long Beach will break the silence and help stop violence tonight as the campus hosts "Take Back the Night."

The event is part of a series of rallies held on college campuses worldwide aiming to bring sexual assault, rape, domestic violence, incest and sexual harassment into the public eye so the community can confront these issues.

"Take Back the Night" is designed to give women a night to feel safe outside after dark.

"I think it is really important that we get people to acknowledge that these kinds of things happen and that we provide support for survivors," said Roshni Chabra, program coordinator at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered Resource Center. Chabra said that CSULB plans to make the rally an annual event.

Lynn Coenen, assistant director at the CSULB Women's Resource Center, said the rally provides awareness and a support mechanism for people.

"It provides a safe place for a woman or man who has been assaulted in anyway to be able to talk about it," Coenen said.

From 1997 to 1999 CSULB has five reports of sexual assault or rape, according to annual crime statistics released by CSULB University Police.

The statistics include Housing and Residential Life and public property on Atherton and Seventh streets, Bellflower Boulevard and Palo Verde Avenue.

"The numbers that are reported are traditionally low, particularly on college campuses and that stems from the fact that it's very hard for women to report things about their peers," Coenen said. "On college campuses it is very difficult for young women to understand that they're not at fault."

Junior business major Elvira Henderson said one rea-son women do not report sexual assault is because they know their attacker.

"If they know the person, or the person attends the same university, they may not want to risk the publication of the situation, or risk embarrassment," Henderson said.

The rally is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. at the Speaker's Platform across from the bookstore.

After the rally there will be a candlelight march around the campus leading to the fountain in front of Brotman Hall.

At the march's conclusion the rally will continue with music and an open forum speak-out, where those who have experienced any kind of assault can share their thoughts.

The Clothesline Project, a grassroots movement that airs the "dirty laundry" of violence against women, will have shirts hung from a clothesline that have been decorated by survivors or their loved ones, representing their personal experiences of violence.

The line will be on display from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Speakers' Platform.