On October 3, 2024, Students Ending Rape Culture (SERC) partnered with the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program (WGSS) to host the annual Take Back the Night March to bring awareness sexual and gender-based violence. The annual march and vigil were an outgrowth of the second-wave feminist movement in the mid-1970s. One of the earliest marches took place in Philadelphia in October 1975. It was in response to the murder of Susan Alexander Speeth, a microbiologist, who was stabbed to death on her way home one night.
Early marches brought attention to the fact that women and girls’ fear of violence, harassment, and rape have a tangible and confining effect on how they move through public space in the evening. Eventually, the women-only marches began to cause controversy in the early 1990s. Marches have since become more inclusive of all allies and survivors and queer communities who also experience identity-based violence.
This year, students gathered in McCormick Hall to make posters, eat pizza and connect with local organizations, including the YWCA’s Stepping Stones, MidCentral Community Action, Queer Coalition, and PRIDE who tabled during the event. Speakers from Queer Coalition, SERC, and Pride started the march with a message about the importance of speaking out against gender and identity-based violence, and a call to ensure the safety of ISU students on campus.
The chanting started as about 80 students marched across campus, uptown and back to the quad, where Stepping Stones hosted a survivors speak out and vigil. State Representative Sharon Chung came with her daughters and offered supportive words about the importance of the event for the times we live in. Participants were invited to share their own survivor stories as they received unanimous support from the crowd.
Take Back the Night is a long-standing tradition on the Illinois State’s campus. Its impact has brought students, faculty, staff and members of the community together to remind us of how far we’ve come, and how much work remains.
