Student led initiative hopes to break silence against sexual assault at UT

Hundreds of people gathered Wednesday on the main mall on the UT campus to prevent sexual violence and support survivors.

One of the first Take Back The Night rallies took place back in 1975 in Philadelphia, in response to the murder of a female microbiologist who was stabbed to death while walking home. Wednesday's Take Back The Night event on the UT campus was planned well before the body of a woman was found on campus Tuesday, but for some, the homicide underscores the need to make the UT community safe.

Sydney O'Connell is one of the founding members of Not On My Campus at UT. "It's a student led initiative to break the silence against sexual assault here at UT," she said.

Not far from the rally, a mobile crime scene lab was parked in front of a dorm near Waller Creek, where the body of a woman in her 20s was found. The homicide sent shock waves across campus. "It really gave me chills because as a freshman that's right by where my dorm was last year," O'Connell said.

But the homicide has pushed O'Connell to push Not On My Campus' message harder, by staffing a booth at the Take Back The Night rally. "It's not like something that's oh someone that's above me is telling me what to do, it's oh my fellow peers are saying guys we need to watch out for each other," she said, explaining how the group reaches out to other college students.

Early in the evening, a band kept the atmosphere light, but the subject matter was deadly serious. -- a safe campus for all. "I wanted the next freshman class and the freshman classes that kept following to feel comfortable coming to UT," O'Connell said.