Editor’s Note: Due to the nature of the Shatter the Stigma rally, march, and healing event, this article will include terms related to sexual assault/sexual violence (S.A./S.V.) and dialogue around S.A./S.V. 

“What does a campus/world without violence against women look like to you?” 

The question was written in neon pink marker on blank poster paper at a table in Baskin Engineering Plaza. One by one, student responses filled the blank space:

“NO shaming.” 

“Walking freely at night.” 

“Not being afraid to shower in a co-ed res hall.”

“Accountability.”

GABRIELA Santa Cruz, a UC Santa Cruz student organization dedicated to women’s liberation in the Philippines, lays out blank poster paper and markers for student demonstrators to write on during the pit stop of the rally at Baskin Engineering. 

On April 25, the Women’s Center held their second annual “Shatter the Stigma” rally and hearing event to advocate for women’s rights and encourage discourse on sexual assault (S.A.) and sexual violence (S.V.). The rally began in Merrill Plaza, passed through John R. Lewis College, Baskin Engineering, Porter College, and concluded at Oakes Upper Lawn with a community healing event and free food.

The rally was the finale to a three-part advocacy series held by UCSC’s Women’s Center. The two previous events, held on Feb. 12 and Feb. 20, were informational workshops focused on S.V., the Title IX Office, and the Center for Advocacy, Resources and Empowerment (CARE). 

Along the route, participants stopped at different tabling locations that offered resources from campus organizations like: 

  • the Title IX Office
  • Soluna
  • GABRIELA Santa Cruz 
  • Women and Queers Against Tyranny and Capitalism (WAQATAC)
  • the Esoteric Collective
  • Porter Senate
  • CARE

The event kicked off at 3 p.m. at Merrill Plaza. Mai Foua Her, UCSC’s Women’s Center director, and Angela Echaorre, the Women’s Center’s Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program (CUIP) Organizer, invited students to open up to other attendees and feel empowered by each other’s solidarity. 

“The event was created to hold space for the UCSC community to engage in addressing sexual violence and to support survivors of sexual assault in our community,” said Echaorre to the crowd through a megaphone. “This gathering is a call for accountability and a demand for policies that prioritize our wellbeing, dignity, and autonomy.”

UCSC Women’s Center’s CUIP Program Organizer, Angela Echaorre passionately leads a rally chant with megaphone in hand, at the front of the crowd as they march down Merrill Hill.

Among the organizations tabling at the event was GABRIELA Santa Cruz, a Pilipinx organization centered on advocacy for women’s liberation in the Philippines. GABRIELA Santa Cruz has advocated for the end to violence against women on campus, reflecting Echaorre’s call for accountability. 

On March 22, GABRIELA Santa Cruz distributed a campus safety survey to collect data on S.V. and S.A. cases on campus. The survey consisted of questions regarding personal experiences with S.A., asking if students felt supported by campus resources and whether they have communities they can rely on.  

“A lot of the respondents mentioned feeling neglected by the university, not feeling like [the university’s] response was adequate and actually tackling the roots of their issues,” said Ken Del Rosario, a member of GABRIELA Santa Cruz and a UCSC alum. “A lot of them have had to rely on their own communities in order to fight back.” 

Student survivors of on-campus S.A. and S.V. are often directed to on-campus resources provided by the Title IX Office, a neutral office dedicated to preventing sex and gender-based discrimination. The Title IX Office offers safety and supportive measures for survivors of S.A. and S.V., including consultations or reporting services. 

“I’m always inspired to work with students in order to support them and support their civil rights, particularly those who need to receive safety and supportive measures,” said Julie Lewis, the director of the Title IX Office in an interview with City on a Hill Press. Lewis, along with Title IX Office interns, tabled at the first stop of the Shatter the Stigma rally. 

“We want to provide [students] with the opportunity to feel supported on our campus, that they have a legal right to receive supportive measures to access their education,” Lewis said. 

Various organizations tabled at different points along the route, promoting resources ranging from ACLU’s “know your rights pamphlets” to a mental health app known as “Soluna.” 

As the crowd traveled from one location to the next, their chants carried through neighboring colleges. 

“Say hey! Ho! Sexual violence has got to go!” 

The second stop included a self-defense workshop led by the UCSC Esoteric Collective, a student-led group centered around spiritual discussion and practice, in the Baskin Engineering Plaza.   

“I feel like self-defense is such an empowering experience, especially for women,” said Matisse Marquez, co-president of the Esoteric Collective and the demonstrator of the self-defense workshop.

Marquez explained how to land jabs, kicks and elbows with the help of a co-member armed with punching mitts. 

 “Women are told to be meek and quiet,” Marquez said. “No. Be loud. Be crazy. Be that bitch.” 

The Women’s Center concluded the rally on Oakes Upper Lawn, where they provided various arts and crafts activities, like letter-writing or drawing, as well as free pizza, cookies, madeleines, capri-suns and gatorade.  

In a small area on the edge of Oakes Upper Lawn, students sat on several overlapped quilts and blankets set up as a community healing space. It served as a safe environment for students to discuss their experiences, thoughts and feelings around S.A. and S.V. 

Marchers make their way to the Oakes Upper Lawn, enjoying provided snacks and self-care products, while being in community with one another. 

“This [event] is something really important to me, as a survivor,” said Olivia Panis-Wells, the vice president of UCSC’s Kappa Alpha Theta. “I think, especially in those situations, being a survivor, being alone is the worst thing.”

For some survivors, conflicting feelings of fear, guilt or pain make it difficult to seek out help.  The event became a safe place for attendees to share those uncomfortable feelings and empower one another. 

“I think that a lot of the time, when people go through things, it can be really easy to feel like you are your pain, but you’re more than your pain,” a member of WAQATAC said. “You are loved, you are believed, and you don’t have to be the perfect victim.”