Deandre Wright eyed the crowd around him at a rally Tuesday night before checking out the display of painted T-shirts that flapped in the April breeze.

The public administration and public policy and finance junior wasn't part of the majority at Take Back the Night, an annual campus event. The women outnumbered the men, but Wright wasn't surprised.

After all, the topic was sexual assault —?a subject most men aren't comfortable discussing, he said.

"There's not a lot of males. I knew about the program a long time ago so we can't blame it on lack of advertising," Wright said. "More males should be involved in it, but the nature of the event makes things awkward, and being here, some (men) may feel targeted."

Take Back the Night is held every year to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month. A march, rally, speak-out session and other events are scheduled throughout the day to raise awareness of sexual violence.

The effort, historically coordinated by women, has been an annual event at MSU for at least 15 years.

This year, organizers aimed to have more men involved, said Elizabeth Schrock, the publicity fundraising coordinator for Take Back the Night.

"It was a women's place to promote empowerment of women over sexual assault, but this year we took a proactive stance," she said. "We want to involve men because it's a men's issue as well."

Rape and sexual assaults decreased by 64 percent from 1993 to 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. About 3 percent of rape victims in Michigan in 2004 were reported as being men, according to the Michigan State Police.

Wright decided to check out the event after seeing people gathered near Beaumont Tower while he was eating at the Union. He admitted he felt uneasy at first.

"People aren't here to target each other," he said. "They're here for support. Realizing that makes me feel more comfortable."

For the first time at MSU, men were not only allowed, but encouraged to participate in the annual march from Beaumont Tower to East Lansing's 54-B District Court.

"It's very good news — women are encouraging men to join them in fighting this and ? men are stepping up and taking responsibility and supporting women," said Jeff Stearns, president of MSU's Men Active Against Sexual Assault. "We're grateful to be able to do this because it's easy for men to feel alienated in this, for men to feel like they don't have a place in this."

Carmen Lane, keynote speaker at the rally, said men are usually the aggressors in sexual assault cases and might be uneasy about actively fighting sexual assault.

Lane is an advocacy coordinator with MSU's Sexual Assault Crisis & Safety Education Program.

"I'm sure there's plenty of fear for a man to be involved," she said. "For anyone whose community is complicit and practices acts that have a long-standing impact on women, of course there's fear, confusion, apprehension. I encourage men to move beyond fear and not be immobilized by guilt or any other feelings they have about this."

Stearns said a number of factors deter men's involvement with sexual assault awareness activities.

"Men might feel out of place, they might feel like women don't want their help or maybe they don't know of any women that are sexually assaulted," he said. "Maybe they're scared to look at their own actions. They might wonder, 'Have I assaulted someone before?' — that takes a lot of soul searching."

In 2004, only 36 percent of sexual assault cases were reported to the police, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The University of Michigan, Central Michigan University and Northwestern University all have Take Back the Night programs, and all allow men to participate in the march.

Kate Donalek, an assistant at Northwestern's Women's Center, said the university has had the program for at least 15 years and invites fraternities to take part.

"We didn't have the best relationship with the fraternities," Donalek said. "Now we have a lot of participation from the fraternities. It's really important that we involve them; it's seen as such a locus for sexual assault. The generalization on campus is that fraternity life is one of the hot spots for the issue, so it's really important to involve fraternities."

U-M began its Take Back the Night program in 1973, organizer and student Byanqa Robinson said. She said unless both sexes work to spread awareness, progress will be slow.

"In order for any kind of change to happen, men are going to have to be involved too," she said. "It can't be one end, it has to be everyone fighting for a change."

Stearns said sexual assault is a problem for both sexes.

"We want to show that this is not just a women's issue. Men do need to take a role in this," he said. "It's not fair to women that they should have to shoulder the burden of dealing with the pain of sexual assault and trying to end it. Most perpetrators are men, so why aren't men getting involved in this?"