When she woke that morning, everything had changed.

"I woke up feeling awful physically," said the student, now in her third year at UC Davis and studying genetics. "I knew something horrible had happened."

This was not her image of a sexual assault. He was not a "man in the bushes" or a stranger. He was a friend. Supposedly. They had simply gotten together for some drinks before a free concert on campus.

The next day, the shaken student chose not to remain silent — like all too many, experts say. Then a freshman, she went to Davis police and campus authorities. Eventually the alleged perpetrator was dismissed from UC Davis and convicted of simple battery. It was a nightmarish experience for Reyes — she could not even bring herself to testify against her attacker.

"Even being interviewed by the police was frightening," she said. "I had never been in any kind of trouble in my life."

She is not alone. One in four women in college will be sexually assaulted, according to the National College Women Sexual Victimization Study in 2000. And most of them, about 90 percent, know the person assaulting them.

Take Back the Night

For the genetics student and others, the Women Take Back the Night event on May 8 is a chance to join together to protest violence against women. Women — and men — are invited to gather 6:10 p.m. in the East Quad.

"We need to raise the consciousness of the community," she said.

The university is taking a tough stand on sexual assault. In February, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef called for a standardized approach to sexual-assault prevention programs across the 10-campus system. He points to the campus's 27-year-old Campus Violence Prevention Program as a model for other UCs to follow in designing their programs.

UC Davis staff last week traveled to Washington, D.C., to make their case for a $1 million Department of Justice grant that would help UC campuses develop sexual violence prevention programs — it is the first time such a grant has been offered, according to Jennifer Beeman, director of the Campus Violence Prevention Program.

"We're optimistic we'll get the grant," said Beeman, who was on the trip. "We hope to hear in June or July."

In 2006, Beeman's program reported 103 sexual assaults — most of these, 60, were in the "acquaintence" category, like Reyes' case. While 23 incidents involved "relationship" sexual assault, only four included acts committed by strangers.

Yet statistics tell only part of the story — the true extent of the pain and sorrow is found in the stories of survivors, the kind that will be spoken aloud during Women Take Back the Night testimonies. These ordeals, for better or worse, are often life-transforming.

Shauna Stratton, a UC Davis outreach coordinator on sexual assault, said one problem is the lack of communication and awareness on the issue.

"Parents are reluctant to talk about it, and men are not as involved as they could be in this awareness movement," said Stratton. "One problem is that these crimes are usually committed by a friend or family member."

Stratton should know. At the age of 4, her 16-year-old half brother repeatedly forced himself upon her. After she told her mother, her parents quickly got her into counseling and immediately sent the boy to live with his biological mother. No charges were filed, Stratton said, but that is just the quandary — parents often do not know how to handle such situations and whether to go public.

"I was too young to fully understand what had happened," she said. "Later on, I figured it out," and made a career helping others cope.

Student Maria Korsunsky knows that sexual assault can happen in seemingly safe places.

"This crime is more widespread than people realize," said Korsunsky, a senior in biological systems engineering and chair of Students Against Sexual Violence, which is organizing the Women Take Back the Night event. "We live in a rape culture, and people need to look beyond the images on TV and in music and take accountability for their actions."

Stratton agrees. "TV is not reality," she said. "Sex between two people should be consensual and with plenty of communication."

Often, alcohol is involved in sexual assault cases — about 85 percent of the time, according to Stratton. Male students may try to "wear down" female students because they can usually drink more than them.

The genetics student, who had gotten drunk at the suggestion of her companion, blacked out for a four-hour period that night. The next day, she confronted her attacker. She was shocked to hear him claim that she had consented to the sex.

"He made me drink," she said, "but he stopped drinking, which I should have seen as a red flag."

For more than a year, she could hardly talk about the incident without breaking down in tears for long periods. Now, she weeps just a little bit, and more quickly regains her composure. Still, it hurts.

"I'm feeling better, though," said the student, who is in counseling and, like Stratton, seeks to use the experience in a positive way as she prepares for a career in genetics counseling. "But this has opened my eyes to how many other women have faced the same crime."

The issue of sexual assault is not always an easy sell to the public.

Some critics point to the Duke University "rape" case involving three lacrosse players that collapsed in April due to a lack of evidence and what the North Carolina attorney general said was overzealous prosecuting. At UC Davis, an alleged sexual assault case in 2002 was found to be fabricated.

For Stratton, these are anomalies. "The false reporting hardly ever happens. Guys always bring up these instances, but it's a tiny fraction of the overall numbers, and that is a fact whether they like it or not," she said.

It is not a movement of passive women. Indeed, Stratton does not call herself a "victim." That suggests weakness, she said. Instead, she prefers the term "survivor."

"Survivor is an empowering word," said Stratton, "one that means someone is willing to fight back and stand up for the right cause."

And men, count yourselves called upon. "We need all the good guys out there to stand together," said Stratton. "We need a people's movement, not just a women's movement."

The Women Take Back the Night event next Tuesday will include a keynote speech by Nandi Crosby, Sacramento's Dre and the Spokes, fire dancing, a march through the streets of Davis, survivor speeches, free food, poetry and a candlelight vigil.

"It would be great if every survivor could show up," said Korsunsky.

To which the genetics student replied, "There wouldn't be enough room on the Quad."

More information about campus programs in sexual assault prevention are available at cvpp.ucdavis.edu.