A dispute over the term “rape culture” has set Carleton students and unions against university administrators as the school tries to rewrite its policy on sexual violence.
On one side are
survivors of sexual assault, outreach workers and their supporters who want the university to acknowledge a “rape culture” exists on campus. They’re furious that members of the school administration boycotted a “stakeholders” meeting earlier this month to discuss a draft of the policy.
“Basically they want to protect the reputation of Carleton,” said Lauren Montgomery, a PhD student who is chair of the women’s caucus of the union representing teaching assistants and contract instructors. “
I don’t care about the reputation of Carleton. I care about survivors and people never experiencing this kind of violence again.”
The group sent a letter to Carleton president Roseann Runte saying they were “gravely concerned” that administrators hadn’t participated in the April 11 meeting, calling the action “beyond offensive.” Runte hasn’t responded, but the university has set a date for a new meeting on May 4.
“We could be leaders or we could be lemmings,” said Dawn Moore, an associate professor of law and equity chair of the Carleton University Academic Staff Association. “I think it helps our reputation to say, ‘We acknowledge that this happens on our campus, as it does on every other campus. And instead of trying to sweep it under the rug, instead of not naming it for what it is, we’re going to tackle the problem head on and we’re going to address it.”
All Ontario universities must adopt a standalone sexual violence policy to comply with Ontario’s Sexual Violence and Workplace Harassment Action Plan — Bill 132 — which became law March 6. The bill followed the 2015 ‘It’s Never OK‘ report on the issue that included a call “to seed generational change in schools and to end rape culture on campuses.”
Consultations on the policy began more than a year ago and the university brought in an outside consultant to oversee the meetings and write a draft policy. That draft was unveiled at a March 23 meeting that quickly turned confrontational.
“It was incredibly combative. Basically we couldn’t even get past the preamble,” Moore said. “People were extremely upset. There were a lot of survivors in the room who were triggered.”
While Moore, the students and union representatives argued to include the terms “rape culture” and “survivor centric” in the preamble, most of the stakeholders from the administration were opposed and voted to remove the only mention of “rape culture” in the draft, where it was included in a list of definitions.
“The university is in complete denial that sexual violence happens on campus,” Moore said. “They’ve been repeatedly telling us that if there are sexual assault survivors on campus, those incidents predate their arrival on campus and that actual instances of sexual violence are few and far between.”
The policy covers assaults on campus, at university-sanctioned events or those that involve Carleton staff, faculty and students.
About one in six women will experience sexual violence at university, said Moore, who specializes in the study of sexual assault and sexual violence.
The term “rape culture” was first coined in the 1970s by feminists in the United States. According to the “It’s Never OK” report, it is “a culture in which dominant ideas, social practices, media images and societal institutions implicitly or explicitly condone sexual assault by normalizing or trivializing male sexual violence and by blaming survivors for their own abuse.”
“Rape culture” is acknowledged in Ryerson University‘s sexual violence policy, which states that “faculties and departments are encouraged to include education related to rape culture and sexual violence in course materials and program curriculum where appropriate.”
Montgomery wants education about rape culture to be similarly incorporated into the Carleton curriculum.
“I want to see prevention mechanisms that are really concrete, like mandatory consent training for everyone on campus. I want it to be embedded in the curriculum. I want it to be something that’s a part of courses,” she said.
The other term — “survivor centric” — is about putting the needs of the complainant first,” Moore said. “It means crafting a response to sexual violence that focuses on the experience of the survivor. What does she need in the immediate aftermath? What does she need in the long term? How can we create a culture in which she feels comfortable accessing resources?”
Carleton’s draft policy, she says, focuses too much on how sexual assaults are reported and offers little in the way of prevention.
She is also alarmed about a section that warns of disciplinary action or sanctions for anyone who is alleged to have filed a false complaint against someone. That’s dangerous, she said, particularly if the complaint is by a student against a faculty member bolstered by the “obvious power imbalance” of tenure, union representation and more life experience.
“This is a direct threat against survivors,” she said. “It’s really a way to shut victims up.”
Besides that, false complaints are exceedingly rare, she said. “We’re talking maybe about one in 2,000,” Moore said. “Of course they can happen, but they are so incredibly rare.”
“If you know anything about what happens when you make a complaint about sexual assault, this is not the way you’d want to get revenge.”
Moore says the policy must be more explicit in the medical and emotional support available for sexual assault survivors. The university’s health services workers, while well-meaning, lack the resources they need to provide counselling and care to sexual assault survivors.
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Battle lines drawn over 'rape culture' at top Canadian University
Originally Posted by Justpassing
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