As members of the Brandeis community marched in the 2013 Brandeis Take Back the Night rally, an annual march against sexual violence, they encountered several shouts from first-year residence halls seemingly intended to taunt the participants.

Take Back the Night is an annual march through campus beginning on the Rabb Steps. The marchers stop in certain quads and hear survivors' accounts of sexual assault. The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, the Queer Resource Center and Students Talking About Relationships co-hosted this year's event, which took place April 29 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Coordinator of STAR Jonathan Rabner '14 attended the march and said he heard several male voices shout "Yeah ZBT" and "Wanna get fucked?" from Cable Hall while the marchers were walking through North Quad.

Former FMLA Vice President Julia Dougherty '15 said she also heard "Yeah ZBT" and "Men's rights."

The shouts referred to Zeta Beta Tau, a fraternity with a chapter at Brandeis. A recent case of sexual assault adjudicated this semester has been associated with a ZBT-affiliated student.

"I think this proves, most of all, the need for more events like Take Back the Night and facilitation of more open conversation about issues like sexual assault because rape culture does exist at Brandeis," said Dougherty of the disruption.

On the "Overheard at Brandeis" Facebook group, one student posted that the same remarks Dougherty had heard were yelled at Take Back the Night. The post erupted, receiving 218 comments that at first condemned the remarks, but then turned into a debate about free speech and rape apologists.

"As a member of the Brandeis community there should be a baseline of respect," Rabner said in an interview with the Justice. "That's why these comments were very upsetting to me."

Rabner said he doesn't want people to "feel uncomfortable speaking about their survival experiences."  

Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel attended the march and sent a campus-wide email May 3 condemning the "offensive and hurtful language" used by those shouting at the marchers.

"While there are surely appropriate settings for discourse, there is no justification for hurling insults at one another, and we will not accept actions that support a culture that in any way empowers those who would commit sexual violence, or who believe that consent can be assumed," wrote Flagel in the email.

In an interview with the Justice, Flagel called the exploitive and offensive shouts from the residence halls windows an act of "cowardice."

Dougherty said she was happy that Flagel sent the email but that more can be done.

"I think further steps can be taken to facilitate discussion about how prevalent this issue is and to further provide clear resources for survivors," Dougherty said.

"Sexual assault is not just a women's issue. It is an issue of an entire community that needs to be discussed more openly and not hidden and silenced," she added.