Former ASFA president Jonathan Roy. Photo by Alex Hutchins
Concordia Association for Students in English criticizes lack of consultation by federation
The Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) discussed its plan of action to respond to the English department’s sexual assault scandal in a regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, Jan. 18.
The federation moved to create a committee, chaired by councilor Taran Singh, which will make recommendations for measures to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation within the Faculty of Arts and Science. The committee will be composed of several councillors, including Concordia Association for Students in English (CASE) president Debby Gemme and three ASFA executives: president Jonathan Roy, vice-president internal Rachael Hutchinson and vice-president external Bianca Bruzzese.
The committee will have the power to make edits to ASFA’s official statement on the recent sexual assault scandal within Concordia’s English department before it is released. Gemme criticized ASFA’s executive team for not consulting CASE on the first draft of the statement. “We think there’s a lot in there that’s problematic,” she said to Roy during the meeting.
“We simply want to ensure that student associations are putting out a united and consistent message conducive to concrete change,” Gemme told The Concordian.
CASE has released its own official statement, calling for the English department to apologize for its “dismissal” of previous allegations, ensure that the third party investigating the allegations is transparent and communicates effectively with students, and update current school policies to address possible abuses of power by faculty, among other things.
ASFA will also participate in a larger task force overseen by the university’s administration. At the council meeting, Roy commented on his Jan. 15 meeting with dean of students Andrew Woodall and deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy, who will be coordinating an assessment of the university’s environment.
“We will be working together hand-in-hand. Not just ASFA and the administration, but we’re gonna try to reach out to all the other faculty associations and work with the Concordia Student Union so that we can create a task force to essentially look at the way sexual harassment and misconduct and such happens at Concordia,” he said.
Although Roy told The Concordian that the details about this task force have yet to be released, he told council that ASFA will advocate for mandatory consent training for all faculty and staff and the promotion of sexual assault resources on all course outlines.
Roy also met with the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, André Roy, on Jan. 12, who he said is committed to implementing “preventative measures and resources to ensure that institutional changes will be made to ensure the continual safety of our students.” These measures include “policy change, workshop implementation and educational/informational campaigns.”
Gemme also criticized Jonathan Roy for not consulting CASE before these meetings with high-level faculty.
“We would have liked to have been consulted,” she said. “The executives, but also the student body that we represent, really would have had a lot to say.”
Roy said that he had met with the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science to discuss a different issue, and had not planned to discuss the allegations of sexual assault. He did not consult CASE prior to his meeting with Woodall and Ostiguy because the two were scheduled to have a separate meeting with CASE.
“From now on, whenever we have any correspondence with either the dean of students or the dean of arts and science, we will be contacting you, and we will try to coordinate something,” the ASFA president told Gemme during council.
Whether it’s the good, the bad or the oh-so-ugly, what happens in Hollywood often feels detached from our everyday reality. Perhaps this is why, despite the entertainment industry’s widely discussed “open secret” of rampant sexual misconduct and abuse of power, it can be upsetting and even shocking to learn of disturbing allegations at our very own university. What is even more troubling, however, is the fact that sexual harassment and assault at Concordia has never been a secret at all.
Recently, sexual misconduct allegations at the hands of Concordia professors have surfaced. An online essay written by Mike Spry, a former Concordia creative writing student, described cases of professors from the English department abusing their academic power to prey on students. Although no professors were named, the essay includes claims that English professors had sexually harassed female students. According to Spry, one professor even rented a hotel room so he could “entertain young writers away from his house and family.” The essay also mentioned “drunken nights of misbehaviour” and how professors would coerce female students into inappropriate and sexual situations under the guise of discussing their creative work.
Last week, Concordia president Alan Shepard announced that the university is taking several steps to investigate the allegations. He also claimed he was unaware of the incidents until early last week when Spry’s essay was published. We at The Concordian think it’s important to note that numerous current and former female Concordia students have been speaking up about the English department’s sexually abusive, toxic environment for years.
Similar allegations of sexual misconduct in the English department were made public in 2014 by former student Emma Healey in her online essay titled “Stories Like Passwords.” In response to Healey’s allegations, several students wrote a formal letter to the English department in 2015 describing the inappropriate atmosphere and stating they felt “uncomfortable and unsafe,” according to the Toronto Star.
Heather O’Neill, a Montreal author, has also spoken out about experiencing sexual misconduct at the hands of the late Concordia professor Robert Allen when she was a student in the late 1990s. According to The Globe and Mail, O’Neill described the sexual harassment and abuse of power within the department as “pervasive.” Stephen Henighan, a former student of Allen’s, told the Toronto Star that the “toxic culture” in the creative writing program can be traced back to the mid-1980s.
It is crucial to point out that many people at Concordia failed to support these students or investigate their claims. The university should have pursued these allegations earlier. Even The Concordian and The Link failed to report on the issue when Healey and O’Neill’s claims were made public, or when any of the other female students’ claims were submitted to the department. We all failed these victims.
While we remain hopeful about the investigative actions Concordia claims to be taking now, we would like to highlight that we are all at fault for this delayed response. We need to listen to survivors when they come forward. We need to give victims the benefit of the doubt. We need to be proactive when we hear even a whisper of an allegation. We need to do better—all of us.
The harsh truth is that Concordia would not be addressing these allegations had it not been for Spry’s essay. It is extremely unfortunate that it took a male writer making these claims for us to finally take action, while, for years, many female voices went unheard.
Abuse of power is a complex problem that must not be ignored. To do so would be incredibly irresponsible. We at The Concordian hope the publicity surrounding the recent allegations at Concordia teaches us all to do a better job of listening, believing and taking action—the first time.
Victim blaming is just one of the tools used to silence a person who has been sexually assaulted
Rape culture is culture that normalizes sexual violence and trivializes a person’s experience with it, according to the Huffington Post. This could be in the form of jokes about rape or songs that insinuate sexual violence. In my opinion, the stigma and attitude surrounding sexual assault in our society plays into rape culture. Victim blaming comes up a lot in conversations about sexual assault, and is a large part of rape culture.
I believe part of the mentality behind victim blaming is people’s need to feel safe. By asking questions like “What were you wearing?” or “How much did you drink?,” people are able to separate themselves from victims. By finding a way to make rape the fault of the victim, it is easier for people to deny that assault can happen to anyone. No one wants to believe bad things can happen to good people. But the truth is, sexual violence can happen to anyone at any time—and no one ever deserves it.
Victim blaming will not protect you. Blaming victims of sexual assault silences others who haven’t come forward about their experience. And while some may argue that society is becoming more receptive to victims looking to share their experiences, there are still far too many publicized cases of sexual violence that create a narrative where the alleged assaulter walks free and the victim is left traumatized and humiliated.
More than 50 women have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault—and were faced with criticism and disbelief, according to CNN. Donald Trump has openly bragged about assaulting women, yet he was elected president of the United States. How are victims supposed to feel safe sharing their experiences when history has shown it will only cause them more pain?
According to Sexual Assault Statistics, in Canada, only six out of every 100 incidents of sexual assault are reported to the police. Someone who speaks openly about their sexual assault is usually met with disbelief, suspicion and blame. There is no guarantee the perpetrators of these crimes will be punished appropriately. When you throw the possibility of victim blaming into the mix, it becomes nearly impossible for someone to muster up the strength to talk openly about their assault.
Although many women have shared their stories of sexual assault since the Weinstein allegations, it is important to note that this doesn’t mean all victims will now come forward. In my opinion, victims coming forward after the allegations against Weinstein—and even Cosby—increases the fear surrounding the idea of reporting sexual assault. Seeing the way these victims are treated by some media can silence other victims.
Recent cases in Quebec, including a judge making victim blaming comments in court, have reinforced my feelings. Justice Jean-Paul Braun said a sexual assault victim was most likely “flattered” by the experience, and he questioned whether kissing is sexual or if consent is needed, according to CTV News.
The idea that the victim should have been flattered enforces the idea that women should be grateful for any attention men give them. The judge insinuated the kiss was not a big deal. This is dehumanizing and encourages rape culture.
As a woman, I’ve been subjected to street harassment and crude comments, among other things. The attitude that a victim must have done something to deserve their assault only makes these experiences worse, especially knowing punishments won’t be carried out. I find myself analyzing my outfit whenever I’m catcalled, fearing I did something wrong. Victim blaming affects all of us. If I were assaulted tonight, and if I chose to tell anyone, I would be terrified of what would be said about me tomorrow.
So how can we change this? We need to listen to victims. We have to understand that only one person is to blame for sexual assault—the assaulter. The victim is never at fault, and there is no reason to judge someone who has been assaulted.
No one asks to be subjected to sexual violence, and no one deserves it. We must work to change the conversation around sexual violence because we should no longer be the reason victims are silenced.
Concordia Student Union student life coordinator Leyla Sutherland says the university’s policy doesn’t fit the definition of standalone sexual violence policy. Photo by Alex Hutchins
Student life coordinator Leyla Sutherland says current policy doesn’t fit the definition
A collective of students from Carleton University called the National Our Turn Committee published a study on university sexual violence policies across the country on Oct. 11. Our Turn: a National, Student-Led Action Plan to End Campus Sexual Violence ranked the sexual assault policies of 14 Canadian universities on a 100-point scale.
Concordia was the lowest-ranked school on the list, receiving a score of 52, or a D-. One of the reasons the university was deducted points was for not having a standalone policy on sexual violence. University spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr said the university was “surprised by the findings of this particular report,” since Concordia has had a standalone policy since May 2016. This most recent sexual assault policy was based on recommendations made in August 2015 by the Sexual Assault Policy Review Working Group, chaired by deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy.
However, Concordia Student Union (CSU) student life coordinator Leyla Sutherland, who helped conduct the evaluation, said this policy does not fit Our Turn’s definition of a standalone policy.
“Our Turn’s definition of a standalone policy stipulates that all aspects of the policy, including disciplinary codes and measures, be included in the policy itself,” Sutherland said. “This is both to make the policy more accessible, as it does not redirect students to another document, and because [Concordia’s] Code of Rights and Responsibilities, through which sexual violence complaints are processed at Concordia, is a code that was not created with the intent to cover sexual violence.”
“It is important that the policy and the people reviewing cases pertaining to sexual violence are people who are trained and equipped to manage the sensitive nature of these cases,” she added.
According to Section 5 of Concordia’s sexual assault policy, “Reporting and Discipline,” if an incident falls under the jurisdiction of the university—meaning it happened on university property, during a university event or “in [a] context where activities or events have a real and substantive link to the university”—the incident may be reported to the university rather than to police. Rather than outlining a formal complaint procedure unique to sexual assault cases, the on-campus option redirects the reader to the Code of Rights and Responsibilities, which lays out behavioral guidelines for students, staff and faculty, and the process by which all formal complaints are reviewed. This includes the process for submitting a complaint, the selection of a hearing panel and the hearing itself.
For complaints made against a faculty or staff member, “reports and complaints can also be made to the appropriate supervisor, depending on the parties involved”. However, Section 11 of the code states that “nothing in the code shall replace or supersede any complaint, grievance or appeal procedure set out in any collective or employee agreement to which the university is a party,” meaning faculty and staff are subject to whatever disciplinary procedure is laid out in their employee agreement.
Two other schools were penalized in the study for not having a standalone policy: McGill University and the University of Winnipeg. Another three—Dalhousie, the University of Regina and the University of Toronto—were awarded half marks for their standalone policies.
Sutherland confirmed she will be meeting with the administration during the week of Oct. 30 to discuss the outcome of the study.
Concordia’s Sexual Assault Resource Centre’s campaign poster. Photo by Alex Hutchins
University receives D- grade in student-led evaluation of sexual assault policies
Concordia’s sexual assault policies are the worst out of 15 major Canadian universities, according to a recent student-led study.
Our Turn: A National, Student-Led Action Plan to End Campus Sexual Violence, which was published on Oct. 11, looked at the sexual assault policies of 15 Canadian universities and graded them on a 100-point scale.
The best-ranked university was Ryerson, with 81 per cent, or an A-. Ryerson was followed by the University of British Columbia, with 78 per cent, and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, with 75.5 per cent. With a score of 52 per cent, or a D-, Concordia was the lowest-ranked university on the list.
The study based its scores on 45 weighted criteria. Among other reasons, Concordia’s policy had points deducted for failing to reference rape culture, punishing students for making false claims and for not processing faculty and staff claims using the same policy as students.
The evaluations were carried out by members of each university’s student union, using the 45-item checklist. According to CSU general coordinator Omar Riaz, the Concordia evaluation was overseen by academic and advocacy coordinator Asma Mushtaq and student life coordinator Leyla Sutherland. Neither executive could be reached for comment before publication.
Concordia University spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr said the university is “surprised by the findings of this particular report, as there appear to be several inaccuracies.” Six points were deducted from Concordia’s score for not having a standalone policy on sexual violence, even though such a policy has existed since May 2016. “We will follow up with the study authors to better understand the criteria employed and to seek corrections where necessary,” Barr said.
The study was authored by Our Turn, a collective of students from across Canada, chaired by Carleton students Caitlin Salvino, Kelsey Gilchrist and Jade Cooligan Pang. Our Turn started with a campaign to improve the new Carleton University Sexual Violence Policy in the fall of 2016. Three human rights students, including Salvino, drafted an open letter to the Carleton administration suggesting reforms to the incoming policy.
Despite collecting thousands of signatures from students, student groups and faculty, the changes were not implemented. As the students researched student-led solutions to campus sexual violence, they discovered other universities were facing “a crisis of campus sexual violence and an administration reluctant to work with students to address the issue,” according to the study.
To date, 20 student unions, including the CSU, have signed onto the National Our Turn Action Plan. There are three components to this plan: prevention, including awareness campaigns and support training; support, including the creation of a campus survivor network and academic accommodations for survivors; and advocacy, including student-led campaigns to reform existing sexual violence policies.
According to Barr, “this fall, the university will ask for online community input on the university’s Sexual Assault Working Group’s report recommendations, and members of the community will be encouraged to share their thoughts, concerns and perspectives.”
Once again, a scandal has erupted around allegations of sexual assault at the hands of a powerful man. On Oct. 5, The New York Times reported that several actors, including Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd, came forward saying they had been sexually harassed by producer and former film studio executive Harvey Weinstein. Three women even accused Weinstein of rape.
This scandal has reignited a conversation about sexual assault as celebrities condemn Weinstein’s alleged actions and more people speak out about their own experiences with sexual assault or harassment. Needless to say, this is an issue that extends far beyond Hollywood and needs to be addressed. Yet it is still easy to feel discouraged and powerless in the face of so many instances of sexual assault that have been ignored or covered up for so long.
Thankfully, closer to home, preventative action is being taken to educate people about sexual assault and consent. Concordia’s Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC) recently implemented a mandatory training program for first-year students living in residence. The workshop was designed by the centre’s staff with the purpose of educating new students about sexual consent and communication, according to Jennifer Drummond, the centre’s coordinator.
SARC already offers several consent and awareness workshops available to faculty, residence assistants and varsity sports teams. Drummond said she hopes these workshops will do more than shed light on sexual assault, but rather educate students and prevent sexual assault from being committed in the first place.
A large part of prevention is about consent which is why these workshops focus on sexual consent as it applies to assault and prevention. It is also important to understand that sexual assault can happen anywhere, be it at clubs or bars, on the streets at night, in classes or at parties—even in your own home. According to statistics provided by SARC, 82 per cent of sexual assaults in Canada are committed by someone the survivor knows. Although the statistics are widely reported, take a moment to really reflect on these numbers. It’s daunting to realize that one in three women and one in six men will experience sexual violence at some point in their lifetime.
This makes it all the more important to speak out about sexual assault and make sure students recognize the behaviour, understand the necessity of consent and have the tools to intervene. We at The Concordian applaud SARC for implementing this workshop as it is one more step towards ensuring the safety of our fellow students. We hope one day these workshops will be mandatory for all students and staff.
The more people learn about sexual assault and understand the realities of it, the easier it will be to de-stigmatize this issue and eradicate it from our campus and community. Open dialogue about rape and assault is the best way for people to understand that these behaviours and actions are unacceptable and will never be okay—nor are they something to joke about. Until we work to ensure our peers are educated about this issue, it will only be that much harder to find solutions and implement change.
The allegations against Weinstein have sparked a conversation, but what needs to happen now is action. We at The Concordian hope to inspire readers to educate themselves about this topic and speak up about the issue. The one positive outcome of this scandal is that it has empowered more survivors to talk about their experiences and educate others about sexual assault and consent. We want to encourage open discussion on the topic of rape and assault, and we hope this leads to more preventative action.
Whether you are a survivor of sexual assault, know someone who is or are just looking to learn more about the issue, Concordia’s SARC is a good place to start. For more information or to reach out for support, call 514-848-2424 ext. 3461 or visit the drop-in centre in the Hall building, H-645.
Professor Emer O’Toole, pictured here, is one of the founding members of Concordia’s Feminism and Controversial Humour Working Group. Photo by Alex Hutchins
Concordia hosted Rape is Real & Everywhere, a comedy show featuring survivors of sexual assault
“We have to engage. And what better way to engage with a discourse in which you are constantly being painted as the humourless snowflake […] than by getting up there and actually joking about the thing.” This was professor Emer O’Toole’s take on Rape is Real & Everywhere (RIR&E), a comedy show put on by survivors of sexual assault that was held at Concordia on Sept. 29.
O’Toole is a professor of performance studies at Concordia’s School of Irish Studies, as well as a founding member of the university’s Feminism and Controversial Humour Working Group. She formed the group alongside fellow professors Gada Mahrouse of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute and Danielle Bobker from the English department.
“I think we had shared interests in those intersections in feminism and comedy where the subjects are controversial—where stuff like sexual assault and race and gender and all of those things that, if you joke about them, create some tension,” O’Toole said.
At the working group’s symposium last year, the three professors got the chance to converse with like minded-individuals, such as the comedians from the RIR&E show. “We just had the most mind-blowing discussions,” O’Toole said earnestly. “I thought, ‘Wow, I want my students to see this.’”
When comedians Heather Jordan Ross and Emma Cooper, the creators of RIR&E, suggested bringing the show to Concordia, O’Toole and Mahrouse were immediately on board.
Ross and Cooper are two standup comedians based out of Vancouver. In 2015, they came up with the idea of hosting a comedy show about rape and sexual assault because Ross wanted to find a way to talk about her experience of sexual assault. According to O’Toole, by only featuring survivors of sexual assault in their show, Ross and Cooper wanted to steer the conversation towards something more up front and less shameful.
“There’s so much power in using comedy,” O’Toole said. “Your activism can do a lot of work under a subterfuge of performance.”
O’Toole, Ross and Cooper have come to be very familiar with the argument that “there are just some things that shouldn’t be joked about”, especially while promoting the RIR&E show. Although she understands that some people will not agree with what they are doing, O’Toole said: “I’m skeptical of anyone who tries to tell someone else how they can deal with their trauma.”
She explained that, as comedians, Ross and Cooper began the comedy show as a way for Ross to cope with the pain caused by her assault. According to a promotional email describing the show, while some people cope in a solemn way, “other people need to laugh. Making jokes about life—sour parts, sweet parts—is, for some, the best mode of communicating what they’re going through.”
In addition to using comedy as a coping mechanism, O’Toole said the show is meant to “reclaim the narrative of rape” on a cultural level. Instead of believing “rape myths,” which define sexual assault within a rigid framework, telling real-life stories to a crowd of people “completely changes that narrative,” the professor said.
“It’s the chance to take control of one’s own story, but also to take back that narrative of what rape is from a dominant culture that wants to make it something that only evil men do, and [make it] something that is so real and everywhere.”
According to the show’s description, “RIR&E has played across Canada, made national and international news and even been the subject of a CBC radio documentary.” Following a run of sold-out shows, RIR&E is now touring university campuses across Canada in hopes of offering an alternative way for students to confront and learn about sexual assault and consent.
Concordia was the first stop on RIR&E’s university tour. The event was in collaboration with the Concordia Student Union, the Fine Arts Student Alliance, the Graduate Students’ Association and the Feminism and Controversial Humour Working Group. During the show, Cooper told the sold-out audience that it was the largest crowd they had ever performed for.
To learn more about the Feminism and Controversial Humour Working Group, visit the group’s page on Concordia’s website. For information about upcoming RIR&E shows and events, visit their website.
Have Your Say survey aims to shed light on the way Concordia deals with sexual violence
The Concordia Student Union (CSU) and the Centre for Gender Advocacy (CGA) are creating a report based on results from a survey that sought student input on the way Concordia handles cases of sexual violence on campus. The report will be published this week and presented to Concordia University’s administration and the Quebec minister of education.
Before filling out the survey, students were invited to a “Have Your Say” event held on March 16, where they were informed about the consultations the Quebec government is hosting to examine sexual violence at the province’s universities and CEGEP. The consultations hosted by Higher Education Minister Hélène David were held in Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau and Saguenay during the month of March.
Stacey Gomez, the action coordinator for the CGA, said the survey collected student feedback on how the Quebec government can respond to and prevent sexual violence on its university campuses.
“Our hope is to come up with a report that highlights student recommendations around how the campus can be a safer place, and how to better respond to sexual violence on campus,” Gomez said.
Lana Elinor Galbraith, the sustainability coordinator for the CSU and the person writing the report, said she hopes the report will encourage the university to create an actionable plan which will incorporate students’ suggestions.
In January, Galbraith attended a conference where student unions across Quebec were invited to discuss how different universities are handling matters of sexual assault. She was disappointed to learn that Concordia is one of the only universities that is relatively advanced. “We are the only ones that have a Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC) that’s paid for by the university and run by the university.” SARC offers support to students, faculty and staff who have been impacted by sexual harassment or assault.
Among the feedback gathered from the survey, Gomez said improving the services offered by the SARC was an important recommendation. “One of the things that came out of the Have Your Say event … was the need to have more resources for SARC and more staff,” Gomez said.
“For a long time, there was only one staff person for the entire campus. Now there are two,” she said, adding there is also a team of volunteers at the SARC.
“As we know, sexual violence on campus is a major issue, and so that’s not enough resources to be able to support students,” Gomez said.
In addition, Gomez said mandatory consent training was suggested for students at the university, particularly for those living in residence or involved in frosh.
“Many students mentioned that they did not feel supported by staff at the university, profs and also security,” Gomez said. She said the survey mentioned it would be beneficial for these parties to receive training on how to support survivors and address sexual violence. This would ensure that those in positions of power on campus “can be more understanding, more empathetic and more accommodating to students who are experiencing difficulties as a result of having experienced sexual violence,” Gomez said.
Graphic by Florence Yee
Fo Niemi, the co-founder and executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), a small Montreal-based non-profit civil rights organization that has handled 15 cases involving students at Concordia, weighed in on how Concordia’s security often handles reports of sexual assault.
“One of the things that comes back often is that they complain security staff are usually trained to handle crowds, demonstrations, security concerns such as … or terrorism or emergencies, but not the aspect of what we call the human violence,” Niemi said.
According to Niemi, CRARR has been in contact with some women who have brought forth legal action against universities in Ontario and B.C. where they were assaulted or harassed.
“We’re not sure [if the way security handles complaints] has really been looked at in an objective manner or a more transparent manner, and I think that is the key thing,” Niemi said. “Some cases we’ve heard is that security, either they don’t know how to deal with it or sometimes they themselves may do something that could possibly put the victims or the survivors in a very uncomfortable position—even if they mean well,” Niemi said.
Jennifer Drummond, the coordinator of the SARC, said many individuals in positions of power at Concordia already receive training. “All different parts of the Concordia community receive training on [sexual assault awareness and bystander intervention], including the security department, upper administrators and the president’s executive group,” Drummond said. “Part of SARC’s education plan, as outlined in the Sexual Assault Working Group’s report recommendation, is to continue to expand the number of groups that receive these trainings—which will include faculty and staff in frontline positions.”
Drummond believes the university has taken the right strides in preventing and responding to sexual violence. “Implementing a sexual violence policy … and having a sexual assault centre with individuals able to accompany the survivor through both internal and external processes can encourage reporting and are evidence of an institution that takes this issue seriously,” Drummond said. “We see female, male and trans* survivors. There are some resources that we provide that are specific to male and trans survivors,” she added.
Drummond said these steps can encourage students to come forward about their experiences with sexual violence. However, many cases are dismissed, go undocumented and, therefore, don’t make it into larger databases about sexual assault.
“Research suggests that less than 10 per cent of sexual assaults are reported to police,” said Drummond. In addition, she said it can be expected within schools for there to be low numbers of reports, as survivors in institutions face various barriers in disclosing and reporting a case of sexual assault.
According to a 2015-2016 report released by Concordia, 16 complaints of sexual assault were made to the university during that year, with only three of these complaints resulting in a hearing or investigation. During the 2014-2015 school year, 16 complaints were made to the Office of Rights and Responsibilities under the category of “sexual harassment.” During this time, there was not a stand-alone policy specifically for sexual assault at Concordia. Instead, data of harassment and assault were both categorized under sexual harassment.
In a 20-month investigation into authorities’ management of sexual assault cases, conducted by The Globe and Mail, it was discovered that one in five sexual assault allegations in Canada are viewed as groundless, resulting in them being dismissed and unfounded—meaning the allegations were not taken seriously, leading the accusation being dismissed rather than documented. Once a case is dismissed, it is no longer considered a legitimate allegation, according to the report. In this investigation, it was revealed 19.39 per cent of cases in Canada are unfounded, almost twice as high as the rate for physical assault.
The Globe and Mail curated this information by filing 250 access to information requests with police services across the country and requested data from 1,100 jurisdictions. The investigation included responses from 873 jurisdictions, which accounts for 92 per cent of the Canadian population.
In Montreal, the same investigation revealed that, over a five year period, 1,256 out of 6,893 allegations—just over 18 per cent—were identified as unfounded.
Graphic by Pauline Soumet
The Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) launched a Sexual Assault Awareness Week on March 27. The week aims to raise awareness of sexual assault not only at McGill, but in the broader Montreal community, by hosting events and workshops between March 27 and 31.
While neither Concordia nor SARC host a sexual assault awareness week, university spokesperson Chris Mota said, “We see every day as an opportunity to raise awareness.” Mota added that SARC has upcoming events, including an open house on Wednesday, March 29. The SARC will also be holding an event on Thursday, April 13 to summarize the consultations held in Montreal by the Quebec government in March.
“Concordia was the first university in Canada to create the position of Sexual Harassment Advisor in 1987, and one of the first to adopt a policy on sexual harassment in the early 1990s,” Mota said.
“In 2013, Concordia launched the Sexual Assault Resource Centre to inform the campus community about consent, prevention and survivor support,” Mota said. “We felt it was an important step in supporting our community by providing services that specifically deal with sexual assault, given the issue of sexual assaults on campuses across Canada.”
Niemi said he has noticed some sexual violence cases at the university level may be prolonged or have unnecessary delays—there is the issue of the level of adequate support that is really given to the women. Niemi said he has not seen a difference in the way cases of sexual assault or harassment have been dealt with by the university since SARC has been implemented.
“For a student [body] of so many thousands of students with so much diversity [to] have only one person, Jennifer Drummond … She can be a superwoman, but she can’t address all of these things,” Niemi said. “They need at least three to four people in that office in addition to our support staff in order to work.”
SARC recently hired a service assistant and relocated for greater accessibility on campus. Fifteen people currently make up the SARC’s volunteer team.
When asked about expansion in terms of the team and the centre’s presence on campus, Drummond said, “SARC is still a very new service at Concordia and I expect, as time goes on, we will continue to expand our team and presence on campus.”
When it comes to scandals and sexual assaults, mum’s the word at the Academy Awards
Awards season is well underway, but critics and fans alike are already predicting who will take home the golden statuettes in February when the 2017 Academy Awards airs.
From Damien Chazelle’s La La Land to Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, the films and performances being considered for Oscar nominations this year are quite diverse. However, the controversies surrounding some of the potential nominees are being ignored by the Academy, as well as the media.
The Oscars are not new to scandal—just last year, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite dominated social media platforms after the Academy neglected to nominate any actors of colour, prompting many to boycott the show. This year’s debacle? Two potential nominees have been accused of sex crimes and no one seems to be talking about them.
Casey Affleck—brother of Ben Affleck and frontrunner for the Best Actor award for his role in Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea—has two separate sexual harassment allegations against him, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In addition to Affleck, director of the critically-acclaimed drama The Birth of a Nation, Nate Parker and his longtime co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin were accused of rape back in 1999. According to entertainment website Vulture, Parker was acquitted of all charges, while Celestin was sentenced to two to four years in prison. He ended up only serving a little over a year, according to Vulture. Last summer, entertainment magazine Variety was the first to report on the allegations, just as they started promoting their film, which features—SPOILER ALERT—a scene in which a female character is raped.
Critics and moviegoers are questioning how they can watch the film knowing the director has been accused of rape and frankly, so am I.
If news of these allegations seems shocking, you’ll be sad to learn that the ignorance of sex crime allegations against male actors has been going on in Hollywood for decades.
According to the New York Times, in 1992 actress Mia Farrow, who was then married to revered director Woody Allen, alleged that their daughter, Dylan, told her she had been sexually assaulted by Allen. That same year, it was revealed that Allen was in a relationship with his step-daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, who was just 19 at the time. They married several years later.
The claims haven’t hurt Allen’s career, though—at 81, he has written and directed nearly 100 films and has worked with some of the best actors in Hollywood.
Last month, a 2013 interview with The Hollywood Reporter with director Bernardo Bertolucci resurfaced in which he confirmed that the use of a butter stick in the rape scene in his film Last Tango in Paris, starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider was not consensual. Schneider, who was a teenager at the time, was not made aware of the fact that Brando would be using a stick of butter to simulate the rape, and Bertolucci admitted in the interview that he conspired with Brando to keep that information from her, saying: “I wanted her to react as a girl, not as an actress. I wanted her to react humiliated.”
In a 2007 interview with the Daily Mail, Schneider said she “felt a little raped” after filming the scene and did not receive apologies from her director or her co-star.
Schneider went on to work steadily until her death from cancer in 2011, but she certainly did not have the same career as her co-star Brando, who won his second Best Actor award for his work in The Godfather the year after they filmed Last Tango in Paris.
While Schneider did not reveal her true feelings regarding the rape scene until 2007, Brando has been accused of sexual assault by several other women, including actress Jackie Collins, who said Brando pursued a relationship with her when she was still a teenager, according to The Telegraph.
The allegations against Affleck, Allen and Brando speak to a greater issue. When a man—predominantly a white man—is accused or convicted of a sex crime, he can still get work. He can still be on the cover of magazines, he can still be on every late-night talk show. He can still be a movie star. He can still be elected President of the United States.
Parker, on the other hand, has not been able to escape the backlash and it has affected his film’s box-office success. Not only are his chances of winning an Oscar now slim to none, The Hollywood Reporter predicted that the film will lose an estimated $10 million for its production company, Fox Searchlight.
Meanwhile, Manchester by the Sea is not poised to lose any money due to the allegations against its main star.
But let’s be blunt—Manchesterby the Sea, a film that has been described as an “all-American family drama,” is much more appealing to audiences than Parker’s film, a historical account of slavery and racism in America, written and directed by an African-American director.
There may not be an #OscarsSoWhite hashtag this year and #OscarsSoFullOfMenAccusedOfSexCrimes might be too long for Twitter’s word limit, but it is important, as the consumer, to be conscious of where your money goes.
The university should create mandated safe space specifically for women
As a feminist and a survivor of sexual assault, I’ve been very open in sharing my own personal experiences, keeping in mind it may provide the strength and courage for other survivors to come forward and speak out.
My experiences with sexual assault are unfortunately not unique—an estimated 460,000 women are sexually assaulted every year in Canada, according to the YWCA, Canada’s largest multi service-organization for women.
When I saw Kelly Oxford, a Canadian author, screenwriter and social media blogger, ask women on Twitter to share their first experience with sexual assault in response to Donald Trump’s leaked audio saying he grabbed a woman “by the pussy,” a flood of memories came back.
Graphic by Florence Yee
What was my earliest recollection of sexual assault? The time a stranger pressed himself up against me on the metro? The time someone slapped and grabbed my butt as I headed to class? The time a guy groped my breasts and then laughed as I ran off crying?
Could these (amongst other more graphic) instances be why I often feel unsafe walking alone? Or why I feel uncomfortable being at school surrounded by groups of men? I had never really thought about it before. I realized I often felt unsafe in public, but I always assumed it was because I grew up in a small town. I never thought there could be another reason.
This is why women need a women-only space at Concordia. We shouldn’t need our own space. We should not feel afraid when men sit next to us. We should not feel unsafe at our own school—but some of us do.
We feel unsafe and uncomfortable because so many of us have had similar experiences with sexual assault, and sometimes more than once. Women are also the most vulnerable to sexual assault, with 15 to 20 per cent of female students experiencing some form of sexual violence during their time in university, according to Concordia’s Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC).
Hopefully one day women can stop being afraid, but for now, we should have a place of refuge, even if it’s just to study for a few minutes without being ogled—even if it’s just to finally catch our breath and say “I am safe.” How many women do you know go to the washroom just to get away from men who are harassing them? I can say with certainty that the vast majority of the women I know have.
Several universities across Canada have implemented designated women-only sessions at their campus gyms, including the University of Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Ryerson, according to The Mcgill Daily.
It is time for Concordia to prove that it is a progressive, feminist university by taking an initiative to make women feel safe, not just when they exercise, but wherever they are in the school by giving them a safe space.
Kelly Oxford received thousands of tweets from women sharing their stories of sexual assault. The number of incoming tweets was so overwhelming that her story went viral. Sexual assault is not a rare occurrence, and victims of it are everyday people like you and me. Whether it’s that shy girl who sits in the corner at the back of class and keeps to herself, or that bubbly girl who goes to every party—it can be anyone. Any of these women may (and probably) have been a victim of sexual assault.
The first step to making a change is awareness. If you’d like to see a women-only space at Concordia, talk to your friends, your peers, or your program’s student organization.
The march aims to be more inclusive of all people battling sexual violence
On Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m. the A Safer Concordia campaign, run by the university’s Centre for Gender Advocacy, hosted a march called “The Night is Not Enough,” which took place at Phillips Square in downtown Montreal. The goal was to demonstrate that the annual “Take Back the Night” march is not inclusive enough, as women are not the only ones who may face sexual violence.
Photo by Ana Hernandez.
According to Jada Joseph, a volunteer for the A Safer Concordia campaign and a Concordia psychology and child studies student, “The Night is Not Enough” aims to be a more inclusive protest for all people who have faced sexual assault, not just women.
Joseph said the march is not only calling out to all genders to participate, but also to all races as well as sex workers and individuals from the LGBTQ+ community.
Spoken word artist Shanice Nicole performing before the march. Photo by Ana Hernandez.
“We’re definitely taking a more inclusive alternative to the ‘Take Back the Night,’” she said. Joseph explained that “Take Back the Night” implies that gender violence only occurs at nighttime, when in fact gender violence is a continuum—it can start with cat-calling and escalate from there. “We are saying that the night is not enough,” she said.
Photo by Ana Hernandez.
“Sexual violence and gender violence is very pervasive in our society,” said Madison Kompagna, a Concordia student majoring in sociology and minoring in women’s studies. She said there is a very strong narrative in our society in which sexual violence only happens to women and only occurs at night. “It’s important that this event exists because it’s more inclusive of everybody,” Kompagna said.
If you or someone you know has encountered sexual violence and would like support, Concordia has resources on campus to help.
The Centre for Gender Advocacy is located at 2110 Mackay St., Sir George William campus. Hours are Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
You can call The Centre for Gender Advocacy at (514) 848-2424 ext. 7431. For peer support call (514) 848-2424 ext. 7880.
The Sexual Assault Resource Centre is located at GM-300.27. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can reach them at (514) 848-2424 ext. 3461 or ext. 3353. If you are in immediate danger at Concordia University call campus security at 514-848-3717.
Take Back the Night! is an annual tradition taking place in multiple major cities around the world. About 60 protesters gathered at Norman Bethune square last Friday to condemn gender violence, sexual assault and what organizers call the “rape culture” in which we live.
Organized this year by Concordia University’s 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, the Take Back the Night! event started with a succession of speeches and performances from various Montreal-based associations.
“We live in a culture where rape and sexual assault are normalized and expected,” said Julie Michaud, administrative co-ordinator at the 2110 Centre. Michaud explained that the notion of women attracting predators by wearing short skirts or revealing clothes when walking alone at night reinforces the idea that sexual assault is expected.
Associations touched upon a range of topics but the nature of the message stayed strong from one speaker to another. Québec Trans Health Action, a group for the rights of transgendered people, condemned the dynamic of fear and exclusion in which certain individuals, especially sex workers, are forced to live in. The Action des Femmes Handicapées described the violent nature of the “circle of dependence” in which physically disabled women live.
Finally, the pro-choice Reproductive Justice League performed a chorus enumerating the many ways a person can say “no” to sex, from “I’m tired” to “I’m not sure” to simple silence.
The march started around 7:45 p.m. and carried on for an hour through the main arteries of downtown Montreal.
“It’s something I’ll never understand as well as [women] do, but marching in an event like this one gives me a better understanding,” said protester Andrew Hogg. “The problems of sexual assault are usually hidden and are personal things that often people don’t talk about. I also don’t think most men talk enough about sexual assault.”
On the way back to Concordia a seemingly confused bystander exclaimed, “Is that really a protest against sexual assault?”
The bystander, Peter — who declined to give his last name — was on a cigarette break outside the restaurant he works at when he saw the march passing on De Maisonneuve Blvd.
“Everybody is against rape,” Peter told The Concordian. “I don’t see the point for a protest and blocking the street for something everyone agrees on.”
This type of argument is common in today’s society and translates a misunderstanding about the nature of sexual assault, according to Felix Chu, a volunteer at the 2110 Centre.
“The problem is people don’t know what sexual assault is,” said Chu. “We have such a pervasive rape culture where saying a verbal no is the only thing that [will make] people … take no for an answer. But there are some people that will coerce and emotionally blackmail, especially in university settings where there is so much date rape. People won’t call it rape. That’s what we’re trying to change.”
The 2110 Centre has been campaigning for a number of years to have Concordia follow the example of McGill and the University of Alberta and create a sexual assault centre in order to welcome and help victims of sexual assault, as well as educate students on what consent is.
