A Message from the CUASA Equity Committee Regarding the Recent Campus Sexual Assaults

Jennifer Evans, on behalf of the Equity Committee

The semester is slowly winding down. The hallways are noticeably less busy, tests and essays have been returned (or soon will be), and the line up at the Page Break seems almost tolerable. As we prepare for the first real snowfall which almost always heralds the beginning of the exam period, it is worth taking a moment to remember that the beginning of December might bring respite from busy schedules, but it will not completely remove the specter of violence that has likewise accompanied us through the last weeks of semester.

Without fail, every year at this time, I am pulled from my end-of-term myopia by the “anniversary” (for lack of a better word) of December 6th, the day so many years ago that university life was changed forever by the actions of Marc Lepine at the Université de Montreal as many of us were forced to learn that spaces of knowledge and erudition could also be dangerous places of violence and anger.

This month, our own campus community has been shocked by the knowledge that three sexual assaults have taken place against female students. Police are investigating a fourth as I write this, and the university administration is deliberating next steps. In light of these grim statistics, and a troubling list of campus assaults on other campuses in recent months, the federal government has called for more attention to the problem. As the Minister for the Status of Women said in a speech on November 25th, “there are good programs out there being offered by institutions like universities and colleges, but we need to do more."

There is certainly more that could and should be done to ensure all members of the Carleton community feel respected and safe going about the work of their day-to-day lives. These sexual assaults affect our students directly, changing their behaviours both inside and outside of the classroom. It impacts how they use their spare time, how they move through the tunnels, whether they decide to study late in the library, or if they feel comfortable walking to their cars at night after an evening lecture. There, too, they are not alone, since many members of the academic community share this same sense of vulnerability when the advent of winter brings dwindling daylight hours. Most distressing of all, considering the fact that statistics also show that many women and girls may have already experienced some form of sexualized violence in their pre-Carleton lives, word of these assaults may in fact trigger other, more personal memories of vulnerability, suffering, and pain.

On-campus violence in all its forms changes the tenor of our workplace. It affects students’ ability to learn, our ability to teach, and our collective ability to nurture critical thinking and top-flight research. As the semester comes to an end, lets not forget that there still remains much to be done to ensure all members of Carleton’s diverse workforce and student body garner the respect they deserve, require, and need to move about campus freely and safely. A recognition of the vulnerabilities and struggles of others who share this university space with us is a small but important step in that direction.