By April 18, 2005
“Yes means yes, no means no, whatever we wear, wherever we go,” chanted approximately 60 Cornell students as they marched from Ho Plaza down to the Commons on Friday evening. Friday marked Take Back the Night, the annual march and rally to protest sexual assault and violence against all, promote community awareness and give a voice to survivors. The march began in three different locations at 7:00 p.m. before it converged into one large group for the rally on the Commons, which began at 7:30. Many Cornell students started marching at the Ho Plaza location, while other people originated at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center and at Ithaca College. The end result was a group of hundreds of people that consisted of Cornell students, Ithaca College students and many other members of the Ithaca community. The rally included speakers, musical performances, slam poetry and information about community resources. When people first arrived at the Commons, they were offered an array of items such as blue armbands signifying alliance with the cause, purple armbands signifying one’s survival of a sexual assault, stickers promoting TBTN and purple wrist bands containing the words “bravery,” “hope,” “endurance” and “courage”. “One in three girls and one in five boys will be sexually abused before they are old enough to vote,” said Maria Coles, acting mayor of Ithaca, who was one of the first speakers of the night. She told the crowd several shocking statistics, including that “every 2.5 minutes another person is assaulted.” The goal is to “create an atmosphere of zero tolerance of violence against women, children and men … where all people can walk without fear through the streets,” Coles said. She then went on to proclaim to a cheering crowd that April 15, 2005 was “a day to take back the night in the city of Ithaca.” “Take Back the Night is actually a national movement that started in Germany in 1973 in response to a series of sexual assaults, rapes and murders,” said Carolyn Turett ’02, the Adult Community Educator at the Advocacy Center in Ithaca. She went on to say that “the first take back the night in the United States was held in San Francisco in 1978, and more than 5,000 women representing 30 states joined the event.” Turett said that TBTN has been going on in Ithaca for more than 20 years. She explained that her role is to be an advisor and supervisor for the TBTN Collective, which “does the planning for the event, but is predominantly made up of students from Ithaca College and Cornell.” They also open up the planning to anyone else in the community who wants to help out. Originally the event focused mostly on violence occurring at night against women, but the event now has a larger focus. “We emphasize that sexual violence is non-discriminatory — it crosses all lines of race, nationality, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression,” Turret said. She said that now people realize that violence happens during the day and not only at night. Turett said that “Take Back the Night always has a strong showing of college students,” which was evident from the turnout on the Commons. Many of the people there were from Cornell and Ithaca College, including Emily Marchese ’05, who led the cheers during the march from Ho Plaza. “I’m a feminist and I think this is one of the most important issues for women of our time — stopping violence against women,” Marchese said. She also indicated that this was her third year participating in the march. Another Cornell student, Jamie Gullen ’07, was also in attendance. Gullen, the co-president of Students Acting for Gender Equality, said that the group has been working with the Women’s Resource Center to plan the event. “It’s really important that we recognize this is still a problem,” Gullen said, making special reference to Cornell’s recent issues like the “Collegetown Creeper”. Nate Felton, an Ithaca College student and one of the few males in attendance said he was there to support “a few friends who were raped in the past.” The event “promotes unity and a feeling that everyone has a common bond and a necessity to fight the problems of domestic violence and rape … it’s silly when [sexual assault] is affecting people’s friends [and they choose not to support the cause]. I feel that more men and women should support this,” Felton said. Turret also spoke of the prevalence of sexual assault and domestic violence in explaining the role of the Advocacy Center. “In 2004, the Advocacy Center provided services to 1,400 Tompkins County residents of all ages who have experienced the emotional and physical impacts of domestic violence, child sexual abuse and sexual assault,” she said. She explained that these issues are extremely under-reported and many people are afraid to speak out about their experience or are unaware of the services available to them. “We live in a society that leans towards blaming the victim — why were you out at night by yourself? What were you wearing? Well, you were drinking, weren’t you? – So it is not surprising that it is so difficult for survivors of violence to speak out,” Turret said. The Advocacy Center has a 24-hour hotline that people can call when they want to speak to a trained counselor. The advocates accompany survivors to the hospital, police or court, “which can help make the experience less overwhelming,” Turett said. The advocates can also provide ongoing long-term emotional support for a survivor. The point of TBTN is to “recognize that all of us have the right to demand to live without fear and violence,” Turret said. She said that she thought the night was a great success. Archived article by Rachel NaymanSun Contributor
By April 18, 2005
The luster of New York City baseball franchises is diminishing. With the aging Yankees fumbling to a 4-8 record and the enigmatic Mets staving off an inevitable internal collapse, the pressure falls on Columbia to uphold the Big Apple’s revered reputation on the diamond. Fortunately for the Red, the Lions lack the bite to do so. In a duo of doubleheaders at Andy Coakley Field over the weekend, Cornell emerged victorious in three out of the four contests. With the wins, the Red improved its overall record to 10-15 (4-7 Ivy) while Columbia continued its freefall in the division standings, falling to 4-27 overall (2-14 Ivy). “Obviously, we would have liked to win all four games,” said Cornell head coach Tom Ford. “But three out of four is a step in the right direction.” An episode of late-game heroics ensured a win for the Red in Saturday’s series opener, a 5-3 thriller that required eight innings to decide. Down to its final out and trailing by two runs in the top of the seventh, the Red avoided defeat when junior second baseman Seth Gordon blasted a two-RBI double to the outfield, tying the score at 3-3. In the extra inning, sophomore Jim Hyland scored junior Michael Weiss and freshman Jim Heinz with a two-out double and rookie pitcher Walker Toma retired the side to complete the come-from-behind victory. Junior righthander Rocky Collis pitched seven strong innings from the starter’s spot, allowing nine hits and two earned runs while striking out five. Columbia freshman Billy Curdy gave up five runs — only two earned — and 10 hits in the loss. Cornell rookie outfielders Brian Kaufman and Ry Kagan both went 2-for-4 in the victory. The Red prevailed in the nightcap without such dramatics, scoring seven runs in the first three innings of a 9-6 win. Seniors Matt Miller and Conor Kelly each collected two RBIs and junior catcher William Pauly went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to cement Cornell’s first three-game winning streak of the season. The Red hammered Lions’ starter Brendan Quinn (0-6), who surrendered six runs off seven hits in the opening 1 2/3 innings. Reliever Daniel Bajger did not fare much better, allowing three more runs to score prior to the sixth inning. For Cornell, senior lefty Tad Bardenwerper (2-3) was credited with his second victory of the season following a seven-inning, nine-hit effort. Sophomore Adam Loeding squelched Columbia’s ninth inning comeback attempt, stranding two base runners to earn the save. “In the first game, we hung in there and stole one from them,” Ford said. “In the second game, we played pretty good baseball all around.” Columbia roared back in yesterday’s opener, riding a four-run offensive outburst in the fourth inning to a 10-4 victory. After Miller bombed his second home run of the season in the top of the first, the Lions scored three runs in the first three innings before jumping out to a 7-1 lead in the fourth. Columbia sophomore Tighe Holden’s three-run homer to right centerfield capped the Lions’ advantage and effectively pushed the game out of reach for the Red. Cornell found it difficult to solve Columbia starter John Baumann, who struck out seven batters over six innings. Cornell bounced back with a 10-4 win of its own in the final game of the series, led chiefly by the offensive efforts of Kaufman — who went 4-for-5 with two triples and three RBIs. Senior righthander Dan Gala (2-2) silenced the prolific Columbia hitters from the first game, allowing only three earned runs off 10 hits while striking out six. After falling behind initially 2-0, Cornell tied the score in the third inning behind RBIs from Kaufman and Miller. The Red methodically tacked on at least one run in each inning for the rest of the ballgame, including a three-run eighth highlighted by Kagan’s first career home run. “Coming off the first game, there was just a different attitude,” Kaufman said. “We played with a lot more confidence in the second game. A lot of guys did a lot of different things to help out the team.” The three victories edged the Cornell squad closer to Gehrig Division leaders Penn and Princeton, who split two doubleheaders in Philadelphia. The Red continues its league schedule this Wednesday against Brown in a makeup doubleheader at Hoy Field.Archived article by Kyle SheahenSun Senior Editor