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Great article in the UBC student newspaper about rape incidents


canuckbeliever

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Rarely read student newspaper articles (especially schools that are not named SFU) but this is a great read and really hammers down UBC's failure to do anything home

In response to Sauder rape cheer scandal earlier this year, the university undertook a massive internal investigation. The president of the university and other administrators made public appearances to condemn what happened. A task force was formed to look into “systemic problems” at UBC.

This was all done over a song.

The university needs to respond as robustly to the recent sexual assaults as they did to the Sauder FROSH events. They need to show they’re as serious about stopping any more women from being assaulted as they are about stopping any more first-years from hearing an offensive cheer.

There’s a tendency in the academic world to embrace attempts to tackle the complex and deep-seated problems in society. The rape cheer fell into that category, at least to the extent that pundits — and eventually administrators like UBC President Stephen Toope — saw it as a demonstration of society’s moral rot.

Fairly or not, the cheer was seen as evidence that our upstanding young people, our world’s future leaders, were behaving like vulgar misogynists.

The university was forced to take on the cheer due in part to the national media attention. But their response can also be seen in the context of academics striving to right a societal wrong.

“I think that we are given an opportunity now to seize this moment, to strike at the casual indifference to sexual violence and intolerance which still marks pockets in our society,” Toope said at the time. He added that the task force would “outline broader actions to support the kind of transformative, robust change we do believe is necessary on university campuses — including our own.”

For Toope, this wasn’t just about a handful of first-years on a bus. This was a chance for the university to lead on one of the pressing issues of our time. But while that might be a fun intellectual exercise for those involved, curriculum tweaks and consent awareness campaigns alone will not destroy rape culture at UBC, and whatever success they do have will be hard to measure.

Here’s something that’s not hard to measure: every weekend since the end of September, at least one woman has been ambushed on campus and violently sexual assaulted. Police have no suspects, nor a clear, public plan to improve security.

There are no deep moral quandaries to face, no changes needed to the curriculum, no earnest soul searching to be done. Everyone agrees that these attacks are wrong, that the person or people behind them are bad and that the correct remedy is to throw them behind bars. Sexual assaults don’t ask “big” questions of the university.

If an offensive cheer about sexual violence warranted hiring new full-time staff and creating a task force, what does the actual violent assault of student warrant?”

But here’s a question: how much money is UBC willing to devote to hiring new security personnel, or to issuing a report on how to improve security on campus? How much money is UBC willing to devote to installing better lighting or more blue emergency phones around campus?

The university had the Commerce Undergraduate Society pledge aquarter of a million dollars to fight unclear “systemic issues” following the rape cheer. That money is going to, among other things, hiring a new professional position with a similarly unclear job description.

If an offensive cheer about sexual violence warranted hiring new full-time staff and creating a task force led by the VP students, what does the actual violent assault of more than three students warrant?

It’s time for the university to show that they take these actual assaults as seriously as they took the rape cheer — even if the assaults lack the attractive intellectual questions, and even if the national media isn’t breathing down their neck.

The ball is in the administrators’ court. It’s time to make campus safe again.

http://ubyssey.ca/op...min-serious232/

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I go to UBC and I think the criticism is unfair. The last couple days before every lecture my profs have spent a decent amount of time brainstorming with the students about what to do in the case of feeling like you're in trouble (and no, what you wore had nothing to do with it). Safe Walk is a great service and as far as I can see, everyone is very vigilant. Aside from the odd joke about skirts, it's been dealt with by the students and staff very maturely on a personal level

Is there a bad allocation of resources by the administration? Absolutely. But rape culture? My ass.

I think the point of it is as much to point out the hypocricy of allocating significant amount of resources when there is a rape chant during frosh week and basically not use any resources when the construct unfortunately occurs.

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The underlying problem here is that UBC cares more its reputation when it becomes part of a media frenzy than self contained issues that don't get as much publicity, it has nothing to do with "rape culture", a term a lot of people love to throw around that's mostly meaningless here.

Again this is also something the article points out indirectly how UBC is not doing anything as the lights are not on.

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Again, completely irrelevant to this mythical rape culture that apparently needs to be destroyed on campus according to the writer

I just dont get where you are getting the rape culture thing from. I have read the article three times now. I also am running on 3 hours of sleep but I dont think thats the reason I dont get this rape culture reference because I really don't see the author going in that direction

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I just dont get where you are getting the rape culture thing from. I have read the article three times now. I also am running on 3 hours of sleep but I dont think thats the reason I dont get this rape culture reference because I really don't see the author going in that direction

"But while that might be a fun intellectual exercise for those involved, curriculum tweaks and consent awareness campaigns alone will not destroy rape culture at UBC, and whatever success they do have will be hard to measure."

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Aww thought it said "Great article in the UBC student newspaper about Grape incidents"

That would have a been a worthwhile read. Was waiting for the grape incident but then I realized it was about rape... Everyone knows rape is totally not cool, unless I was being raped by Scarlett Johansson in which case I would probably enjoy it, but if I'm enjoying it, is it really rape? Hmm brain teaser for y'all.

Now I gotta google some grape articles to get over this disappointment. If I wasn't a Tangelo I'd definitely be a grape. Very underrated fruit.

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Aww thought it said "Great article in the UBC student newspaper about Grape incidents"

That would have a been a worthwhile read. Was waiting for the grape incident but then I realized it was about rape... Everyone knows rape is totally not cool, unless I was being raped by Scarlett Johansson in which case I would probably enjoy it, but if I'm enjoying it, is it really rape? Hmm brain teaser for y'all.

Now I gotta google some grape articles to get over this disappointment. If I wasn't a Tangelo I'd definitely be a grape. Very underrated fruit.

This is a great example of how not to post here. This is nothing more than rambling, offensive idiocy. If you need to post nonsense like this hide it somewhere deep in WN, PM it to your friends, or preferably, don't post at all.

Consider this a warning.

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This is a great example of how not to post here. This is nothing more than rambling, offensive idiocy. If you need to post nonsense like this hide it somewhere deep in WN, PM it to your friends, or preferably, don't post at all.

Consider this a warning.

*Applause*
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The point of my post while not blatantly obvious is that I think this whole thing is pretty stupid. The only reason this is a "thing" right now is because a few sauder kids decided to chant something stupid and offensive. But the reality is kids say and do stupid things all the time. Just look at that kid in the states who made a dumb joke on the Internet about burning down a school and was later imprisoned for what 6 months? This is the same thing on a much smaller scale obviously, but the principle is the same. We've all seen this before where a few kids say something stupid and the media completely blows it out of proportion because that's what the media does, tries to strike fear in people. People just gotta relax. I doubt any of those sauder kids even knew they were saying something stupid at the time

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The point of my post while not blatantly obvious is that I think this whole thing is pretty stupid.

What whole thing? The Sauder incident? Did you even read the article? It's about more than the Sauder incident.

The only reason this is a "thing" right now is because a few sauder kids decided to chant something stupid and offensive. But the reality is kids say and do stupid things all the time.

No, it's a 'thing' right now because students are being sexually assaulted every week at UBC.

Just look at that kid in the states who made a dumb joke on the Internet about burning down a school and was later imprisoned for what 6 months? This is the same thing on a much smaller scale obviously, but the principle is the same.

This has no relevance whatsoever.

We've all seen this before where a few kids say something stupid and the media completely blows it out of proportion because that's what the media does, tries to strike fear in people. People just gotta relax. I doubt any of those sauder kids even knew they were saying something stupid at the time

Again, you seem to be missing the entire point of the article. It is about serious sexual assault at UBC and the inactivity of UBC in the face of that, perhaps due to a lack of media attention.

Your first response was not witty or connected to discussion at all. Your second response was a weak, misinformed attempt to justify the first. Please only post when you have something of value to add. PM me if you have any questions, I don't want to hijack this thread more than it has been already.

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The underlying problem here is that UBC cares more its reputation when it becomes part of a media frenzy than self contained issues that don't get as much publicity, it has nothing to do with "rape culture", a term a lot of people love to throw around that's mostly meaningless here.

How many chants and how many unresolved (reported) sexual assaults does it take for you to consider a campus a 'rape culture'?

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The underlying problem here is that UBC cares more its reputation when it becomes part of a media frenzy than self contained issues that don't get as much publicity, it has nothing to do with "rape culture", a term a lot of people love to throw around that's mostly meaningless here.

The underlying problem here is politics. Academia is now dominated by left wing liberal arts majors. By setting up a task force to deal with a chant, you provide those same people with jobs.

Actually addressing real rape would require: hiring security guards, putting up cameras, etc..basically spending money that can't go directly into the pockets of like-minded people. The people in charge of budgeting are all academic types themselves. Don't expect change anytime soon. It's a lot easier to pay someone 85+k per year plus benefits and pension to head a committee than it is to spend the same amount on a few extra security cameras or guards.

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I'm not where to start with this post of yours but I'll try. What is rape culture? Rape occurring? A sudden spike in assaults? If that's what it is then why aren't there designated terms like "theft culture" when there's a spike in thefts?

Rape culture is a holistic attitude in which the responsibility and blame is given to the victims and rape is seen as an occurrence that is the result of the victim not being able to take the correct precautions. And that's what's displayed by "She asked for it", girls in South Africa putting spikes between their legs and honor killings of survivors and ostracized rape victims elsewhere.

To take that dynamic and thinking and imposing it on this situation displays an incredible lack of critical thinking on your part. Do you honestly think the students were condoning rape with the chant? It was ill timed given that it was at an event where you're supposed to be a beacon of scholarly success. It would have been just as inappropriate to have frack in the chant. Your line of logic makes 90% of CDC responsible for condoning pedophilia with the Dee jokes. I guess we have "pedophilia culture".

As for unresolved cases, it's undeniable that the response by the authorities have been sub par. But is that due to bad preparation and resources or rape culture as you seem to think? They haven't been going around telling girls to not dress a certain way if they don't want to be assaulted. This isn't due to some engrained misogyny. To propose that is simply asinine.

because "rape culture" is an abstract concept, it has to be desegnated with relativity. and in this case, it would be pretty wild, maybe even unethical, to bring up other cultures as comparison or even talking points. (south africa?) so when you say "take that dynamic and thinking and impose it on our culture" what are you even talking about? you are the person who is doing that, not me, not anyone else (from what i can tell).

do you think race and cultural theorists define traditions and manifestations of racism in comparison to the holocaust?

rape culture is relative, you can only judge things based on specific cultural standards--especially when we're talking about a university

it's kind of funny to me that you would consider this "ill-timed." at what time would a song about rape better be chanted? the divinity of the timing is that it was more or less presented in public earshot, and the gesture IS, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, an absolutely hostile manifestation of "rape culture" presented casually or as a joke. either way, it doesn't matter. to answer your question about whether or not the students were condoning rape, the answer in my opinion is a boring yet obvious: well, sort of.

yes in that they were trivializing rape simply by "joking" about it, but no in that I do not consider this batch of morons to be the "beacon of scholarly success" and actually consider them to be the as5hole end of it. they are probably too stupid to know what they are saying, why they are saying it, and what the weight is of what they are saying. they are, in short, idiots.

i'm hung up on the colondee reference because i'm not sure if it works or not. on one level, it's a personal "joke" made about one specific person who we all assume to not actually be a pedophile. the joke is not about a victim, and it certainly doesn't present itself in the form of a manifesto ("we like em young"). again, context matters: the joke is made from behind the veil on anonymity where there are literally no consequences for the tameness of the joke, but it is just narrowly shocking enough to be considered within the realm of "moderately funny." on the internet, impermissible things become permissible. if someone were to make those same jokes about someone in the workplace or classroom, i'm sure there would be a very negative reception. on the other hand, you're absolutely correct: making jokes about pedophiles, regardless of the pedophile, is a trivialization of the pedophile.

yes, there are discussions about "theft culture" (re: any article or commentary or discussion about the state of piracy), violent culture (goes without saying), racist culture (again, goes without saying), and who can forget the golden nugget of sexism? again, goes without saying. whether or not these points of interest are titled "theft culture" or "violence culture" doesn't matter, they are all considerations of the more or less the same thing.

yes, there is engrained misogyny, but whether or not this is all the result of it, i don't know

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The underlying problem here is politics. Academia is now dominated by left wing liberal arts majors. By setting up a task force to deal with a chant, you provide those same people with jobs.

Actually addressing real rape would require: hiring security guards, putting up cameras, etc..basically spending money that can't go directly into the pockets of like-minded people. The people in charge of budgeting are all academic types themselves. Don't expect change anytime soon. It's a lot easier to pay someone 85+k per year plus benefits and pension to head a committee than it is to spend the same amount on a few extra security cameras or guards.

the university has always been about left wing liberal arts

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The underlying problem here is politics. Academia is now dominated by left wing liberal arts majors. By setting up a task force to deal with a chant, you provide those same people with jobs.

Actually addressing real rape would require: hiring security guards, putting up cameras, etc..basically spending money that can't go directly into the pockets of like-minded people. The people in charge of budgeting are all academic types themselves. Don't expect change anytime soon. It's a lot easier to pay someone 85+k per year plus benefits and pension to head a committee than it is to spend the same amount on a few extra security cameras or guards.

The underlying problem here is women are being raped and people are more concerned with setting up a committee group or body to deal with ignorant chants instead of dealing with the person(s) who are sexually assaulting young women.

Politics be damned. If it was my daughter i'd be patrolling the campus with a gun and a soldering iron

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The main connection I can see between "rape culture" and the assaults at UBC would be the sexual objectification of women.. which may certainly put extra stress on a sexually-frustrated person. (Not to mention North American media's constant portrayal of Universities as being beer fueled orgies as much as places of higher learning.) I remember reading an article when I was in high school saying Gage and Vanier were the "easiest University residences to get laid" in Canada.

While we do not condone rape, per se, we as a society may unintentionally promote it by some of these attitudes and pressures on young men to get it and young women to give it up. (Generalizing - not always specific to those gender roles of course.) Does the subconscious (or conscious) realization of this cause us to be too lenient on the perpetrators? The other effect, of course is the imposed silence or public shame on the victim.

I know in other societies / cultures "rape culture" is a lot more pronounced - but to say it doesn't exist in Canada (especially in the dorm / frat / bar scene) is a bit silly.

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The underlying problem here is women are being raped and people are more concerned with setting up a committee group or body to deal with ignorant chants instead of dealing with the person(s) who are sexually assaulting young women.

Politics be damned. If it was my daughter i'd be patrolling the campus with a gun and a soldering iron

Impractical and illegal revenge fantasies aside, the issue here is that UBC has spent money to hire academic committees to deal with chants. They are refussing to spend money on things like increased securtiy and cameras. My analysis was pretty apt.

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Impractical and illegal revenge fantasies aside, the issue here is that UBC has spent money to hire academic committees to deal with chants. They are refussing to spend money on things like increased securtiy and cameras. My analysis was pretty apt.

The academic committee was implemented in mid September, before most (if not all) of the recent sexual assault things took place. You're judging UBC based on the decision they made about sexual assault before the sexual assaults took place?

Since then, the school has not "refused" to spend money on things like increased security or cameras. They just met with members of the RCMP looking for advice, apparently.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/sexual-assaults-prompt-increased-security-on-ubc-campus-1.1507342

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