On Tuesday, student speakers shared stories about the importance of sexual violence prevention during the annual Take Back the Night (TBTN) rally, presented by the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response & Education (SHARE) Title IX Office.

The event began at 7 p.m. in White Plaza and was split into three separate parts, a rally, a march and a speak-out. SHARE student staff Sofia Penglase ’25 and Zoya Fasihuddin ’26 opened the rally by introducing three speakers: Anya Gruener ’28, SHARE Assistant Director/Education and Outreach Manager Nina Lee and Kristen Lew ’28. 

Lew’s own experiences as a sexual violence survivor inspired her to go into sexual assault prevention advocacy. In an interview with The Daily, she shared that her community at home felt similar to Stanford in that it can feel isolated or like a “bubble,” which led to her feel as though there weren’t any resources for her after her assault. 

“What I noticed in my community is that there were so many other survivors around me and no one was talking about it. There weren’t many resources within my community,” Lew said.

Gruener, a SHARE student ambassador and the founder of a nonprofit organization aiming to “assist and empower survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence,” shared her involvement in allyship and advocacy. 

In her speech, Gruener recalled reading her first-ever sexual assault case and its impact on her. “That file marked the beginning of not just my work but how I saw the world,” she said. Gruener spoke on her work helping refugees of the Russia-Ukraine war and how she cared for children vulnerable to human trafficking.

Stanford has been hosting TBTN rallies for over ten years, according to Lee. The purpose of TBTN is to bring awareness to the prevalence of assault that can happen at night on college campuses. 

“Take Back the Night is one night, but the care, the solidarity and the belief of survivors must continue every day,” Lee said in her speech.

“TBTN isn’t just about the scary man in the bushes that jumps out and does something, right? It’s also about assault happening between friends, between partners, about people who have gained trust and love,” she added.

Lee later expanded on her comments, writing to the Daily, “the stories shared at TBTN reflect the diverse realities of sexual violence — highlighting that it can happen to anyone, in any context. That’s why initiatives like this are so important: to honor survivors, build awareness, and foster healing.”

Fasihuddin, who is also the director of sexual violence prevention for the ASSU, said the event is about “reclaiming the spaces, the experiences and the communites that have long been plagued by sexual violence” and “being able to navigate the world at large, freely, without fear and without restrictions.” Fasihuddin further emphasized that TBTN fights for peoples’ right to feel comfortable in everyday life, no matter the time of day or location, with familiar people and strangers.

The rally closed with Lew speaking on her experience as a survivor of sexual violence and how that led her to create a chapter of TBTN in her hometown of Orange County. Lew highlighted the importance of supporting movements such as “Me Too” and attacking harmful narratives such as “Not All Men.” 

“What terrifies me the most is that when I say ‘Me Too,’ less and less people remember what that means, and when I whisper ‘Not All Men,’ I hear back silence,” she said.

The second part of the evening was a march through campus led by the SHARE volunteers from White Plaza to Toyon Hall. The march occurred in silence while protestors held various posters in support of survivors. 

The march concluded at Toyon around 8 p.m., where the the speak-out occurred in the dorm’s lounge. SHARE staff and volunteers set up multiple “safe spaces” within Toyon with fidget toys and tools, as well as food and beverages for event attendees.

The speak-out was held open-microphone style, with strict norms being outlined at the beginning and attendees and audience members being invited to come forward and share their stories or their thoughts with the group, lasting about an hour and a half in total.

The TBTN event was confidential, which Penglase and Fasihuddin clarified at the start of the rally, meaning mandatory reporters would not be obligated to report stories shared by survivors. Each person quoted here gave express permission for their name to be published.

Correction: This article was edited to include additional comments from a source.