LeeAnn HodgesCONTRIBUTING REPORTER
LeeAnn Hodges
Students prepare for the speak-out during Rape Awareness Week.
The university's Policy Group on Rape Education, Prevention and Response held a speak-out at 7 p.m. Feb. 13. in Wait Chapel.
Approximately 250 people attended the hour-long event. Upon entering the chapel, each person received a candle to be lit at later time in the speak-out.
The a cappella singing group Chi Rho performed three pieces at the beginning, middle and end of the program.
"The most visible event is the speak-out, when we hear stories of Wake Forest students," said junior Jennifer Drennan, a co-chairwoman of the PREPAR executive board.
The testimonials of eight students were read continuously for thirty minutes by an anonymous reader.
While the testimonials were read, twenty-six candleholders passed a flame across the chapel's stage.
Every minute during the testimonials, another candle was lit to symbolize that one woman in the United States is raped every minute. At 7:37 p.m. all twenty-six candles had been lit, and at 7:45 p.m. the candleholders spread throughout the Chapel to light students' candles.
"A friend of mine in PREPAR invited me to participate," said sophomore Clinton Wilburn, a candleholder.
"It made me think about the women in my family and my girlfriend who attends another college," he said.
Sophomore Sarah Aitcheson, a co-chairwoman of the PREPAR executive board, said, "We're hoping people will realize that this is an issue which affects both genders and crosses cultural lines."
Speakers from the university community talked early in the program about the importance of dealing with the social and emotional consequences of rape and sexual assault.
Ken Zick, the vice president for student life and instructional resources, was the first speaker in the program.
"The candles symbolize the power of commitment in general and provides a glimmer of hope at a time when people are expressing deep pain," Zick said.
"In talking with students it is clear that their consciousness is awakened to this issue in ways that no speech or sermon can," he said.
"It has really been through the education efforts of PREPAR that people have been more alert to identifying those situations which could potentially cause this kind of problem."
"It is not at all a male-bashing experience -- in fact, both the men and women pledges (of fraternities and sororities) have to attend," said Marianne Schubert, the director of the university counseling center.
Sophomore Drew Brown attended the speak-out at the request of a friend. Brown said, "While rape is an important problem I think that they may be overdoing it." The speak-out was Brown's first time participating in a PREPAR- sponsored activity.
"I wish a lot more people knew about it, especially males, and I wish I could have been apart of it last year," said Wilburn.
"The events that people talk about are hidden from public view, and what this ceremony does is expose them," Zick said.