soapbox spinster

On the Toronto Star's dodgy coverage of our Feb 14th action...

2008-02-15T12:56:00.010-05:00

So I guess I'm supposed to think it's like real nice that the big, strong mainstream media (The Toronto Star) sat up and paid attention to The Miss G__ Project's action yesterday (seeing how they seem to have missed entirely the hugely important nation-wide 3rd Annual Rally for Our Missing Sisters).

But I'm actually feeling like it's not that nice at all.

The article in the Star, written by someone who's covered the project twice before, is peppered with inaccuracies and leaves out a major part of the campaign; that is, the huge public mobilization that took place across the province.

Here is a letter Sarah G, co-founder of the project, just wrote in response

To the Editor:

We would like to thank the Star for covering yesterday's actions by The Miss G__ Project for Equity in Education and our supporters to demand the approval of a Women's and Gender Studies course in the Ontario high school curriculum. I would, however, like to make a few clarifications and expand on some important points.

First, the major 'turn out' yesterday was not the 15 or so people standing in front of the Ministry of Education, but rather the HUNDREDS of individuals who called the Ministry expressing their support for our cause, not to mention the many who also sent emails, letters, and Miss G_ postcards as part of our "No More Miss Nice G_!" campaign. (We had sent you a press release explaining this campaign on Wednesday.) Phone-in days were (and will be) held in campuses across the province, and many high school students phoned-in voicing their support -- including an entire class in Kirkland Lakes. We hope that the Star will also acknowledge the incredible mass effort put forward by the people of Ontario yesterday to demand that this course be added to the curriculum.

I would also like to clarify that the government is not funding pilot courses. Rather, those courses which have been taught over the past few years were designed by individual teachers and approved by their school boards. These dedicated teachers put in their own time and finances to create these courses for their students, and they have received no compensation. We hope, as well, that the Star will recognize the commitment of these teachers to bringing feminist curricula and women's history into their schools, where there was none before.

Finally, regarding our ourdoor demonstration: the 'wall' we created included a harrowing number of articles related to young Ontarians and issues of safety within high schools, including experiences of boys who have been assaulted and harassed. A Women's and Gender Studies class would be a safe and inclusive academic setting in which students could talk openly and critically about these issues and how they affect their lives and futures. As students we work with have told us, the opportunity to take a high school-level WGS course has been life-changing and eye-opening, and has empowered them to challenge injustices, such as the rampant sexual assault and harassment that goes on in their schools. By changing the curriculum, we are demanding not only a change of lesson-plans and textbooks; we are asking that the government meet its own policy objectives to create safe and inclusive learning environments in which all students can have equal access to opportunities and information. Students armed with these conceptual tools make more informed and responsible citizens, no matter what path they take in life after graduation.

We were disappointed, as well, not to see any coverage of the March for Missing Aboriginal Sisters which took place at Yonge and College. We will look forward to seeing our clarifications in print, and thank you again for your coverage or these important events.

And here's one from soapboxspinster blogger movingtargets :

To the editor,

Thank you for your coverage of yesterday's Miss G__ Project Valentine's Day campaign, but I think it's necessary to correct a few errors that appeared in your publication.

Most importantly, Ms. Brown's article stated that the government has provided some funding for pilot Women's & Gender courses in a handful of Ontario schools. This is not true. While there are a number of courses being taught in Ontario today, the government has not given a cent. These courses are developed out of pocked by innovative teachers who receive no compensation.

These pilot courses should be not be read as the Ontario government's response to violence and harassment in schools, but rather as result of the hard work of activists and progressive teachers and students who are working at making change despite the Ministry's continued inaction.

Additionally, your article fails to mention that the main thrust of this campaign was a email-writing, valentine-sending & phone-in campaign in which we estimate close to 500 people contacted the Ministry yesterday alone in support of getting Women's & Gender studies into the curriculum as a way to make our schools safer and more equitable spaces for all students.

While the demonstration at Mowat Block was a great success, the greater success was the active public mobilization around this issue that your article ignored.

I just wish that the good folk who are part of the big machine that is news media would pay close attention to things like press releases, or really listen to what people are saying when they're being interviewed. I feel like we're supposed to be so unequivocally grateful that we're even being covered by Him, that we're not expected to care about how we're taken up/represented by the (Media) Man. And I'm over that. The coverage was lame and didn't even represent the actual campaign, let alone its spirit, what it was informed by, what its outcomes were, and so on. It missed the point entirely... even when it was handed The Point(s) in press releases, youtube videos, facebook groups, interviews, follow-up to interviews, and so on.

Like don't deign to cover our campaign, if you're simply going to cover up the reality of it.

No More Miss Nice G!

2008-02-12T22:44:00.004-05:00

What's a major campaign without a snappy and exciting PROMOTIONAL VIDEO to get you in the mood? Produced by our very own jennaow, youtuber to the stars:

Sure to be the brightest 4.5 minutes of your day, this vid includes:
- glamour
- suspense
- helpful step-by-step guidelines on how to call the Ministry
- some things you could say, and expect to hear, when you call

Get more info on the Miss G Website!!
www.themissgproject.org

What's missing in Ontario's high schools

2008-02-09T19:21:00.000-05:00

Why doesn't our school system think highly enough of education to use it as a tool to prevent violence and harassment?    

Imagine an average Ontario high school classroom of around 30 students.

If it is indeed an ‘average’ class, eight of the girls and four of the boys sitting in those rows of desks have been victims of verbal forms sexual harassment at school.

Five of those girls and two or three of the boys have been touched or grabbed in an unwanted sexual way – again, while at school.

And if it’s an older class, at least eight of the girls and around three of the boys have been pressured into doing something sexual they didn’t want to do.

OK, so imagining, let alone finding an “average” high school classroom in Ontario would be impossible, but that doesn’t make these numbers any less real or alarming.

These are the statistics that came out of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s recent study on sexual harassment and related behaviours among youth, released this week. The study surveyed more than 1,800 grade 9 and 11 students in 23 Ontario schools.

The CAMH study confirms and emphasizes the findings of the School Community Safety Panel’s 1,000+ page report on safety in Toronto public schools (a.k.a. the Falconer Report, named for the panel’s chair Julian Falconer), released just a few days before.

The Falconer Report found that in Toronto, sexual assaults and sexual harassment are happening in schools at a startling rate, that girls are much more likely to experience it than boys, and, moreover, that most cases are going unreported.

Both studies also show that experience of sexual harassment in schools is closely related to very serious long-term effects in students, including depression, low self esteem, missed school days, declining grades, and substance abuse.

In short, gender-based forms of violence and harassment in high schools are a bigger problem than perhaps anyone realized.

Well, except of course for teachers and school administrators.

Oh, and anyone who’s attended high school.

Actually, the truth is, alarming as these numbers are, they’re not new. A 1995 study, nearly 15 years ago now, by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation found that over 80% of female students had been sexually harassed at school.

Not to mention the stacks and stacks of feminist (and other progressive) education scholarship that’s been done since the 1970s looking at the ways in which equity and safety intersect to make high school environments what they are for certain populations.

How long can we wait before implementing measures to ensure that the most vulnerable students are not being robbed of their right to go to school in a safe and secure environment, as is supposedly guaranteed by the Ontario government?

This action will require not merely responding to these disturbing “new” statistics in the Falconer and CAMH reports, but rather looking to the root causes that are occasioning such a high level of harassment and violence in high schools.

So why is this happening in Ontario schools?

Sure, high schools are sexually charged places. High school hallways are certainly minefields of raging hormones, confusing questions about sexuality and identity, and complex social hierarchies that thousands of teenagers must negotiate together as they all rush head-on through puberty, adolescence and young adulthood.

But that can’t be all, because assault and harassment are certainly not a necessary consequence of adolescent sexuality. Moreover, anti-bullying and anti-violence measures currently in use by school boards clearly aren’t proving effective.

The Falconer Report argues that these programs are ineffective because they take a gender neutral stance and don’t address very real forms of inequity that affect students' lives and, the Report argues, lie at the root of much of the violence and harassment occurring in schools.

In other words, our school system is vastly underestimating the way that social inequities (and not just those of sex and gender, but also race and class) powerfully condition how safe or unsafe our schools are.

Sexism, racism, poverty, and other forms of inequity are a fact of life for many high school students in varying ways and degrees – just as they are for the world outside of the high school walls. But what our school system is lacking, these new reports (and their predecessors) tell us, are the tools and information to help students successfully confront and negotiate these very real inequities.

Isn`t providing students with the tools with which to confront and negotiate their lives what education is (or is supposed to be) all about? We must ask why then, are these urgent issues not being addressed in the classroom?

It is becoming increasingly clear that what our schools are shying away from (at their own peril) is engaging students in critical discussions on gender, equality, sexism, gender roles, homophobia, race, and class – and how these and other forms of discrimination and oppression all intersect in complicated ways. These are issues that are virtually nonexistent in the current standard curriculum, but that are clearly nonetheless powerfully at work throughout the school system.

Students also need much more adequate information on healthy relationships, sex, sexuality, body image, harassment, assault, and violence that goes far beyond a few pamphlets in the guidance office and two or three days work in (often, optional) health classes.

We also need to be engaging boys in discussions about masculinity, gender roles and homophobia, as these most recent reports identified all of these things as contributing to male students becoming perpetrators of violence

Moreover, we need course content that allows students to see themselves in their education, as studies continuously show students always do better in school and develop stronger self-esteem and sense of self when this is so. This would mean a shift towards (for example) more girl-centric and afro-centric curricula – more women authors in English class, more non-white faces in our history books (etc.).

We also need more training for teachers, not only so that they can effectively handle issues of gender based violence and diffuse charged situations before they turn potentially dangerous, but also so that they can engage students in meaningful discussions about the societal causes and effects of gender based violence.

Most of all, what our schools are lacking are holistic, school-wide approaches that focus on the root causes of violence and harassment as a means to prevention, not simply reaction. This is not simply a question of equity or `fairness` in schools; we`re seeing daily that it`s an incredibly urgent question of safety and of the basic human right to an education.

For the last three years, the Miss G__ Project for Equity in Education has been lobbying the Ministry of Education to implement a Women`s and Gender Studies course into the Ontario High School Curriculum.

Following WGS scholarship in post-secondary education, The Miss G__ Project envisions WGS as a high school course, directed at both female and male students, which would address all these needs laid out by the CAMH and Falconer Reports by providing students with the tools, education and language necessary to confront sexism, racism and classism in their daily lives.

Several visionary high school teachers are already teaching locally developed WGS courses across the province because they know first hand the urgency and simply couldn`t wait any longer for the Ministry to act.

In response to the Falconer Report, Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne told the Toronto Star that she is "very supportive of preventative measures." The CAMH and Falconer Reports, not to mention the news reports of gender based violence in schools we hear so regularly, confirm that giving students the tools they desperately need as part of the education they deserve to receive in a safe environment is a preventative measure this province cannot afford to wait on any longer.

On February 14, the Miss G__ Project is conducting a phone calling campaign encouraging supporters to call the Minister of Education expressing the urgency and demand for WGS material to be implemented into the curriculum sooner rather than later as an effective means of preventing harassment and violence in our schools.

For more information, please visit the Project`s website at www.themissgproject.org or email themissgproject@gmail.com.

(If you're on facebook, you can check out Miss G's campaign page here: http://facebook.com/event.php?eid=8006913425

the glorious dr. ursula franklin...

2007-05-24T17:44:00.000-04:00

the other night i had the privilege of attending an event hosted by the feminist legal analysis section (FLAC) of the ontario bar association (OBA), where the glorious dr ursula franklin (a self-described "unrepentant feminist and an unrepentant pacifist") was awarded FLAC's "commitment to equality" award. dinner was fabulous (we were sitting with some really wonderful women), and got even better when dr franklin spoke and engaged in a conversation with us on "feminism in the here and now"

a little bit more on dr franklin:

Join us in celebrating Dr. Ursula Franklin, the brilliant and visionary scientist and humanitarian, and social justice and peace advocate, whose feminism is an essential part of her life. A mentor and role model to generations of women in science, an activist Quaker and pacifist, her most recent book, The Ursula Franklin Reader: Pacifism as a Map (2006), will be a feminist classic.

Dr. Franklin is an inspiration to women and truly an example of someone who is not afraid to act on her convictions, and who helps to make this world a better place to live. She is University Professor Emerita at the University of Toronto and a Companion of the Order of Canada.

and more: wikipedia entry on dr. franklin

some really interesting ideas/anecdotes/thoughts were shared by dr franklin, who is truly a pleasure to listen to. here are some points i've managed to pull out from my pages of excited scribbles:

- dr franklin spoke of seeing feminism as a social ordering vastly different from patriarchy, and that it is not just an employment agency for women

- she pointed to the existence of "lady patriarchs" -- women who choose power over true feminist action and change [when she was using the term "lady patriarch" i kept imagining condoleeza rice walking around with a crown given to her by patriarchy]

- she focused a lot on the relationsip between feminism and pacifism

- she looked at feminism's "then and now" and spoke of how what has yet to change are the structures of power (such as the welcoming patriarchal structures of the military)

- she said there has been a change in outlook, and that male attitudes have started changing, but that's not enough (lady patriarchs are so dangerous because they play into the structures, but give the false image of change)

- structures also have a built-in avoidance of really hearing these changed attitudes... [a great line that, as an english student, i just ate up: "there's no point to represent into a vacuum"]

- in response to a question she talked about the relationship between feminism and many religious structures which, by pre-existing government, are original sources of patriarchal authority, that there are inherent similarities between the patriarchal authority of religions and government. so feminism is at odds with this "management structure" of religions. however, feminsim can find compassion with the welfare function of religion-- with notions of love, understanding, and listening.

okay that's part one of my post. my sister needs her comp, and i'm currently mac-less after my keyboard had a run-in with my morning (afternoon) espresso. so i'll post some more points in a bit! sheetal :)

okay here's part two!

- michele landsberg asked: what will the next generation do to change structures?

- dr. franklin responded with this really delicious discussion on 'mechanical vs. organic' understandings of how the world works. she said she hoped our generation of feminists would build on a genuine understanding of the difference between a mechanism and an organism (a difference that women will find if we can find a way to express/represent it properly)... the way our culture works now, is we see things working like a clock, where we believe that, if we are clever enough and put the parts in right, and give it the right kick, it'll work.... but that's not how life works. dr. franklin then starts to talk about looking to our gardens, that life is made up of organisms who grow together, malfunction together, it's not as if we are separate parts that you can just jam together... things work because we grow together, learn together... there's a limit to the tinkering, and a different way of nurturing, just like you can't force carrots to grow, there are conditions necessary to make life possible. the next generation of feminists will say stop, look, listen, and understand that human society is an organism and not a mechanism. in this sense, there must be a commitment to collaborating, and not to pull the carrot out and then put it back in to say "grow more." and a refusal of violence and a commitment of dialogue is part of this. and the refusal to believe that one can fix something agianst what life knows. we need to learn the limits of mechanism, and it will be the garden that teaches.

- the next question was about what could be done about the worldwide epidemic of violence against women.

- dr. franklin discussed reducing the tools of violence (gun control/abolition), images of violence, the glorification of violence, using images of things like cartoon characters to remove the human experience from violence, and a de-escalation of noise and speed and things that lead to an avoidance of a human situation.

so these are just some of the really fascinating points of discussion that were raised during the discussion by this remarkable woman... thoughts?

Updates and reflections from the Town Hall

2007-04-14T17:10:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who read the liveblogging Sheetal and I did from the Town Hall last night. Re-reading it now, the number of typos and sentences-that-don't-make-any sense is downright embarassing, but I'm just going to leave it up as-is. Just to preserve the memory of the intense rush of it, just a little bit.. haha.

Also thank you to everyone commenting to let us know who the speakers were. I felt so bad beacuse I did such a bad job at catching people's names (and even when I did catch them, more likely than not brutally misspelling them). So thank you and please keep commenting!

Now to the update. First off, yesterday afternoon, sometime between a meeting I had with Fab Dolan and the Town Hall meeting at 7, the USC and the Gazette both released press releases with official, for-real-this-time apologies:

From Ian Van Den Hurk, Editor-in-Chief:

"I wish to formally apologize for hurting Western students, the University Students' Council, The University of Western Ontario and members of the greater community... While the issue was not written with malicious intent toward any individuals or groups, nor the reputations of either the University of Western Ontario or the University Student's Council, I fully understand and recognize the pain it has caused. I am truly sorry."

The USC has also claimed accountabilty and USC President Fab Dolan has officially apologized. He also notes that reforms will be in place by September 1st (aka before the Gazette can publish another issue) and that the reports of the planned study groups will be ready by November, to give students time for input (as a good chunk of students aren't around in the summer). Most people at yesterday's meeting hadn't heard about this yet so Fab Dolan read them off.

So now for some much more coherent reflections on last night's meeting. I'll make sure to stick in lots of comments about the "patriarchal framework" because I know our readers just LOVE that :)

Also, this is long. Apologies. I wish blogger would let us put some of this behind a cut or jump.

So many speakers brought up so many good points and were so powerful and inspiring. I was really happy to hear several speakers put this event into context by bringing up past offenses of the Gazette, while most speakers talked about how this was indicative of a larger atmosphere at this university, and gave examples. I was also happy to hear someone say very clearly to the administration (and this was Kat Mitrow) that sure they care now, but if it wasn't for the work of so many "dedicated and sleepless women" (tell me about it) this would have just slipped through the cracks.

Some things that were said made me cringe just a little bit. Like when someone said that the Gazette hasn't proven itself mature enough to have a newspaper and it should be taken away from them. The student journalist in me (and yes, believe it or not, lover of free speech!) shuddered just a touch at that. There are so many students on this campus who could do a better job with the Gazette, and if the Gazette could be institutionally restructed to allow more student voices, the input of a more diverse student population, and to stick to an anti-oppression policy, I think that the potential for the Gazette to actually counteract (as opposed to contribute to) the dominant atmosphere at Western could, potentially start to outweigh some of the pain and hurt it's caused.

Additionally, some people suggested that we should cancel the Sex and Spoof issues. Perhaps. The Gazette has clearly shown that year after year it can't do these issues without being grossly offensive and stupid. But personally, I think that it would be much better, and more of a challenge, to have the Gazette publish a fantastic Sex Issue, one that is sex-positive, diverse, non-heteronormative or heterosexist, and that doesn't need to objectify women to be "sexy." (For example Trent's newspaper Arthur just published a supplement of self-representation of queer populations that included a lot of racy sex-related stuff... Actually they recevied a lot of flack for it. Don't you wish we had that kind of thing to argue over in our student publication instead of this?) I'd also love to see a fantastic Spoof Issue, with really well written, well done satire.

I also thought it was kind of (kind of) a shame that no one spoke from the "this isn't offensive this is free speech" side. I know there are plenty of people who feel that way so it's a shame no one showed up to defend their side. I guess freedom of speech is a lot easier to whine about than to actually practice, huh?

There were representatives from the administration (including President Paul Davenport) and the USC (President Fab Dolan), but no one from the Gazette. I understand that Editor-in-Chief Ian Van Den Hurk didn't go because he didn't want to co-opt the discussion (and he's right it, probably would've turned into a witch hunt), but I have to say that I do think it was really shameful that not a single person from the Gazette was there (and if they were, they didn't speak). The administration is responsible, the USC is responsible -- but ultimately the Gazette is the most responsible, and Ian Van Den Hurk most of all, and at the very least he (and preferably other editors) should have been there.

First, let's talk about the administration, specifically Paul Davenport. And on that note, I've found the ostrich and dinosaur picture I was talking about. I think it's a good image to reflect how I feel about this part of the night.

Unfortunately it seemed to me that Davenport hadn't heard a single thing in the meeting that night. He just doesn't seem to get it, and if he does it ain't coming across. One woman at the meeting spoke about how she feels like a lot of the administration members are "dinosaurs" when it comes to their views on women's rights and feminism (and women's studies) and after that I couldn't help but see Davenport-as-dino all night. His speeches, particularly his closing speech, just screamed "I don't understand this" -- at the same time as he clearly thought he did, as he clearly spoke with a certain amount of assumed authority, the way, I image, he speaks on everything.

I watched him, in his speeches and speaking to him afterwards as well, really struggle for the "right" language to talk about these issues, and he clearly just doesn't have it. Again, he doesn't get it, but he's also not, it's clear, had the education or exposure necessary for him to really understand where everyone is coming from on this one. He hasn't had that "ah ha!" moment where it clicks and he gets it, and he hasn't had clearly any kind of education in issues that would allow him to speak with any intelligence, let alone authority on it.

Which, I might add, is no one's fault but his own. It's not our responsibility to educate him, it's his responsibility to listen and to learn. Which is why his responses "we can do this but we need your help" (of course you need our help, you don't understand, but you need our help to help you understand, and then you're the one who has to take resopnsibility and action... but who exactly is "your" [in "your help"] in that sentence anyway? women? faculty? students?) ... and "men must be front and centre on this issue" (what? I think he's trying to say that men can't think that this is only a women's issue, which of course it ISN'T, but to say that men need to be front and centre on this, while so many dedicated women have been organizing and mobilizing around this for the last week, just wanting the big powerful men like Dr. D to listen to us, not to tell us what to do - is just insulting). It was also clearly a linguistic failure (rooted in an ideological failure) when he said he was glad to see so many groups "working for the weaker people of our society," which (not surprisingly) attracted a round of boos. His choice of the word "weaker" there, so clearly echoing "the weaker sex" was just so wrong.

Again, I feel like he is just extremely uneducated on these issues, but moreso that he had a very real opportunity last night a) to realize and own up to his own ignorance, and then b) to get some education, if he had just listened (and I'm sure this isn't the first opportunity he's had to do that, of course). His closing speech said to me that he hadn't really listened at all, which is a shame/shameful.

More importantly though, it's downright shameful that the someone who is the President of our university is not already educated on these issues. Full stop. (Though it does seem to explain a lot about the nature of this university.)

In contrast, Fab Dolan spoke with much more grace. Both men chose their words very carefully, but, well, Fab didn't call us the weaker sex so he kind of already wins. From having spoken now to several people who were there, the general sense seems to be that, unlike Davenport, Fab might finally be starting to "get it" -- and that is my impression too, having now had the chance to meet with him twice. He spoke with a lot of heart, talked about how this past week has made him learn a lot about the experiences of female and queer students on campus, and about how he's learned that life isn't all like they teach you at business school. (And I'll reiterate, why can't they teach them ALL this at Ivey?!)

Here's the difference: Fab was listening, clearly. His final speech particularly reflected that, but just in general I feel like he's done a lot of listening, and learning, this past week. He comes across to a lot of people as a smooth talking politician a lot of the time I think, but I honestly believe that our dear Mr. President has been deeply changed by this whole event -- and that that's not just spin. Most of us feminists remember that week that a friend of mine calls her "Butler week" -- you know, that week when your mind was blown by a feminist analysis of some kind and then suddenly the way you saw the whole world changed. Maybe it's naive of me, but I think Fab may be experiencing his own kind of Butler week this week.

And you know, that gives me a lot of hope, both for this school and for Ivey students everywhere .... ;)

I also have a lot of hope for the plans the USC has committed to putting in place to do some serious reexamining of the Gazette's policies and practices. I think we will absolutely need to continue to put pressure on the USC to make sure these study groups are as thorough and as brutal (in their reconstruction of the Gazette) as they have the potential to be, but it's actually very exciting to me to see that for the first time, we're actually doing something to change UWO's "untouchable paper" (as Fab called it).

No, it's not perfect. I regret that Ian Van Den Hurk has not resigned (and at this point, it doesn't look terribly likely, but I'm still holding out hope). But it's something.

Given the nature of this world, the reality is that we feminists have a lot of rage. We just do, because there's a lot to be rageful about, quite legitimately so, once you start seeing it. When something like this happens, you have to scream at the top of your lungs. There's so much rage that you can barely contain it all, and you need somewhere to channel it. The frustrating thing about this event has been, in part, that there haven't been a lot of channels to put that rage into. We feel like screaming and we need someont to scream at -- the editor, most definitely, and his mostly-lack-of-response has been frustrating and disappointing. The administration and the USC, yes, but they don't have the power to do a whole lot to "punish" the Gazette or Van Den Hurk in this instance (so our lust for blood remains unsatisfied, lol ;).

But the thing is, I think we are making some ground on this issue. The apologies, the USC's plans to seriously restructure the Gazette -- these are all amazing steps that (shoudl have but) couldn't have happened without all the uproar we've created around this issue. The problem is that the world isn't perfect now, this issue isn't even totally fixed, so we're still filled with rage that our society doesn't let us get out very often. And once you let the floodgates go, you have a critical mass of feminists who are pissed off, about this but also about the state of the world in general.

Strategically, I think that we as feminsts need to appreciate and recognize ground when we get it, and this is ground, if only a tiny patch of it. This is FAR from over, but we have the opportunity here, potentially, to make some real change to the Gazette by working with them and with the USC. While our rage over this issue, still so much of it unsastified, is still important and crucial, I think it's important that we recognize what we've achieved and that we applaud those who have worked with us.

8:58 pm

2007-04-13T20:54:00.000-04:00

Um so basically Davenport's response so far is that it was "really useful for him" to hear from everyone. And how he's "old pals" with Faulkner and its important that we recognize how hard he works. OK...

He's talking about his condemnation of the newspaper and how he respects the autonomy of the student press... but now from the 150 emails he got, that makes no sense. Um, what? His he at the same meeting? No one's calling for the end of the autonomy of the student press? I'm sorry, but I can't help but seeing a giant dinosaur standing up in front of me right now... :P

OK OK he's talking. Something about how "he'll try to find the resources." The crowd doesn't like him very much. He probably shouldn't have called us the weaker sex. (Dinosaur!) He udnerstands that we're not satsified with teh institutional arrangements, and that he's going to "work on them." Yawn.

Now he's talking about how this isn't just about the Gazette and how this is about the climate. He wants to address this, but we need your help and consultation on this! Well, that's fabulous Paul. I'm glad to hear it. Double yawn.

Provost Fred Longstaff (giggle) is speaking now. He's committed to running an education institution that will respect the safety and justice of all. He's refrencing a speaker who said that s/he hopes that this has an impact, and he commits to us that they will do that as well - but again, they'll need our help. I'm not really sure who they're addressing - women? teh gayz? students? staff?

Fab's concluding remarks now. He thanks everyone for coming and for contacting him throughout the week. He seems so beaten down by this, I wonder if the crowd thinks if that's genuine or a spin. He's talking about the power of words and how we should choose our words carefully. He's talking now about how what he's really learned from this is that the world ain't like he was taught in business school (oh why can't they teach them ALL that at Ivey?) He's talking about how he's learned so much about women's rights, the rightrs of gays and lesbians etc. etc. and he ensures us that the power of OUR words is making them (the USC) take action against the paper everyone once though was untouchable. In looking at solutions, he's saying, we need to look at the mentality of "keep teaching." This past week has opened up a window to a world that he never knew, never knew the realities of etc.. More about the importance of teaching and education. He recognizes that "that equity just isn't there" and he "can't say with more sincerity how terrible the inequity is that so many of my students are afraid to stay late to study on campus tonight, that's inequity that we need to start addresing." He wants students to keep talking and emailing him and he wants to keep talking about more solutions. In closing... (and he's choosing his words soo carefully here) - he says that none of this is spin. He's committed to doing what he's said he'd do, taking steps to make this is a reputable and equitable paper. "A student paper has so much potential and we have to harness that potential."

Sheetal: Well, he defintiely showed so much more grace than Davenport.

And yeah he's probably lucky Davenport is such an ass :P

Well, that's it folks. The last message "please continue to be part of the change, to permit is to promote."

There's a room now for debriefing afterwards and we'll be heading off to that. Thanks for tuning in folks! More updates later on our reflections.

8:52 pm

2007-04-13T20:52:00.000-04:00

Oops! Davenport just said that women's groups are working to protect "weaker people in our society." and the crowd booed. Fuck yeah the crowd booed! Um, I think he just threw any chance of being genuine here out the window...

8:39 pm

2007-04-13T20:39:00.000-04:00

Someone who identifies herself as Jan (and who says she's not comfortable with the the TV cameras) is talking now (the cameras are turned off). She's a staff member, she works midnight shifts and weekends in Syndenham Hall. She's talking about her experiences of abuse and violence and you could hear a pin drop in this room. She's talking about a male soph who sexually assaulted a female soph while 10 other male sophs stood around and watched, treating it like a JOKE. ""Such an act takes many victims" she says, as she was a witness to this and as the one who brought it to an end. Wow this is an amazing woman, this is clearly really tough for her. And then this:

"These are our student leaders, this ist he example, this is what passes for normal, I'm afraid, around here. Why am I the one sent for therapy?" ...APPLAUSE CHEERS STANDING OVATION, and lots of hugs. That was INCREDIBLE. Wow.

A student who is doing her MA here next year - "it's bad timing, I was already hesitant in choosing Western." Take that UWO. "Being a student doesn't mean being a child. When you're a child you're permitted things because you're learning... BUt we know what's right and wrong and we should be treated like adults." So true. She's also talking about how important it is for us to be offended, to be pissed off about this and decide that we're not going to take it any more - no matter how many people (or leaders...) treat it like a weakness or "feminine sensitivity." HELLS YES. SHe also says that hte Gazette represents only a fraction of students, that it's ELITIST (if every student feels completely welcome to join, how come we're hearing this? EXACTLY). She's calling for a completely new paper, not calling it The Gazette even any more (which I've heard a few places now).

~~Aniko (can't spell her last name... but she's on the women's caucus I think?)~~ Aniko Varpolatai, of the Women's Caucus, is speaking now. She's glad that Davenport changed his travel plans to be here (yawn, his poor vacation!) She's speaking directly to Davenport and asking him to put his money and resources where his mouth is - particuly in Women's Studies. She's talking now about "the dinosaurs" at this unviersity (ie when they told her that we didn't need a women's studies program, because clearly equality must be integrated into every program right? Also, dinosaur? Sheetal was googling ostrich images earlier this week (Jennifer Ostrich) and she found this amazing picture of a dinosaur chasing an ostrich and I CANT FIND IT NOW! but it was great.

OK my ostrich search put me behind a little but someone from the Women's Caucus (I think) is talking about the importance of insitutional measures and safeguards of respect, justice and human rights .

Oops, only time for one more speaker. A student who doesn't identify herself. "What kind of paper do we want the paper to be, do we want it to be at all?" She has mixed feelings about the Gazette, because they recently covered an article about UWO's investments in companies that are supporting genocide in Sudan. She's talking about how that relates to a code of ethics for publishing should be supported by a code of ethics for the institition... she's saying "ethics" and "accountabiity" a lot, and again, absolutely this is a women's issue (how our university affects women in the rest of the world) .... but... well she gets the last word anyway. It's 8:58.

Oops, nope. The senior admin gets teh last word. Lets hear it.

8:33 pm

2007-04-13T20:33:00.000-04:00

A former prez of the First Nations Student Association is speaking. Unfortunately I've missed a lot of what he said but from what I coudl tell it was great, about

Kim Young-Milani from the Cricle @ Brescia is talking. She's registering her disappointing for the Univeristy's sheer lack of pride and respect for the contirubtions of women at the school. She's also a rep fo rthe Women's Events commitee (which plans TBTN) and she's disgusted with the spoofing of that march, direct action against violence against women. She encourages men to come out to TBTN and stand on the sidelines and cheer, to show that you GET IT. She feels like that sacred trust was broken but this article. And as a daughter of a police officer she says that it was so disgusting to include Murray Faulkner, who is leading the way in the fight against violence.

Andrea Van Dutton is thanking everyone who felt personally attacked, and says she's spoken to plenty of them and they refuse to be scared in to submission. Hells yes. She also says that she doesn't htink that the cancelling of the sex and spoof issues is necessary - the challenge is to write these in a way that isn't offensive. Good point - let's see a diverse, sex-positive stories and real intelligent satire in the Gazette. Couldn't agree more.

~~Anne Scott~~ Ann Skoczylas from the history dept is talking about how this is reeeeeally the tip of the iceberg and how this is a much bigger issue than jsut the Gazette. She's talking about how the women (actually, she said girls) in her classes have told her that they feel intimidated by the men and profs in their classes, how they felt unable to speak freely, to the point at which one student said she walked out of a class. This is such good stuff. I'm so glad this stuff is getting aired here. "We may have 50+% here but women's voices aren't represented"... Great speech.

8:26 pm

2007-04-13T20:26:00.000-04:00

A man who works with Changing Ways who is also a student is talking now about how outraged he is -- not because he was disgusted with the content but because he wasn't surprised. Oh, such a good good point. Such a good point. Lots of mmhmms. This happens because of indifference," he's saying, and points out that the people in this room care but that the majority of people just though that this was just a joke. Another good point. He's also saying (and thank god someone did) that Davenport's comment on how men need to take a leadership role - uh, no. Men need to be accountable and listen. Thank you so much for saying that man who's name I don't remember. [Trevor Hinds, Men's Counselor, Women's Studies/Anthropology UWO - Thanks Jodi!]

Another female student is talking now, she's from Brescia but I don't remember her name. She's talking about how disgusted she is that our student fees pay for this. "What is the point of the Gazette? No one knows," she says.

Woot! Huron alumni! "What saddnes me is that things have not changed in 30+ years," and she talks about how she wrote letters when she was an undergrad. Um, tiny heterosexist comment but I'll let it slide cuz she's on our side ;) Great quote -- "this is a mirror of the larger UWO culture." Ooh now she's talking about an IWD article that talked about how the lady profs "lack confidence" which is why they aren't tenured... !! Lovely. "This is not a friendly place," she says, and she talks about how if she comes here for grad studies next year she'll have to "turn off her annoyance button." Boo-ya.

There are so many people lined up! They're committed to ending this at 9, so some people aren't going to get to speak.

8:20 pm

2007-04-13T20:20:00.000-04:00

A poli-sci PhD student is talking. She's pointing out that "we're sorry you're hurt" is not the same as "you're sorry." Word. Couldn't agree more. Of course, the USC and the Gazette have come out with REAL apologies today and Fab apologized for being responsible and accountable several times... but OK. She's got a good point.

A broadcasting student (who is covering this story right now! ha) is speaking now. She's pointing out that Fab said "I'm sorry... but we're students we make mistakes" and that if she said this stuff on the radio she would be sued. "To come here and say "we made mistakes we're students" you're representing studnet journalists poorly." She also condemns the editors for "hiding from their mistakes" by not showing up. Good point.

Mama Mitrow (Kathyrn's mom) is talking nwo. She's feisty. She likes to say she's a tax-payer a lot and that she's a person of good social standing in the community. She's totally sassing out Davenport. Haha. She was that USC meeting on Wednesday too, and she sassed Fab then also. She's pleased that he's accepting accountability tonight and she maintains that the editor should be fired and is disappointed that he's not here. She pointing out that the USC has been sued for what the Gazette has publisehd (it has) and that it still hasn't put a code of ethics in place. Good point. She's also talking about how there are restrictions on our freedom of speech for the good of the public to protect from hate speech, and she's amazed that this was printed (even after having been looked at by the USC lawyer, which is was).

Bonnie from the Women's Caucus is telling the audience that we need to move beyond hate and blame now, and that we need to focus on making change and how to do that. I'm really glad she pointed that out, because I really hope that that's what we get out of this meeting.

8:11 pm

2007-04-13T20:11:00.000-04:00

~~Koda~~ Kota from Huron is speaking. He's plugging the Huron dining hall workers on strike and says he's talking about the working conditions of all workers here. He says that the workers have received unreasonably sexist comments in the picket line, and now he's breaking up a bit. Aw. This isn't *totally* related to this issue... I mean, defnitely a woman's issue, and it's important (I've been sending emails about THAT too all week), but I think the crowd is a bit ticked off by the opportunism. Whatevs.

The communications officer and non-native representative of the First Nations Students Association is talking (I feel really bad for not catching names). She's talking about the article the 2005 Gazette published earlier this year... oh yeah that was a real gem, "canada has done enough for its aboriginals." At that time they apologized (not publicly though, only at a small meeting) - no retraction. This year, the FN Students Association attempted a write-in protest on the anniversary of that. The Gazette rejected it because (!!!) any topic over 2 weeks old is "Dead" and no one would know what they were talking about. Gasps, shock etc. Yeah no kidding. I love that lots of people are pointing out that the Gazette kind of makes a habit of this. She also wants the Gazette to be more willing to apologize, without all this crap, when they fuck up. Good point. She wants them to be able to say "we were wrong." She's talking about how in First Nations communities, the first thing you do when you mess up is apologize, and after that you ask to be taught. And she wants to see more of that. Very, very well said.

~~Donna something from Brescia staff~~ Donnafaye Milton, from Brescia (she's also a student) is talking. "The Gazette is just the tip of the iceberg she says." Wow, she's been talking about how she's received hate mail from a FACULTY MEMBER. Wow. "We need to do a lot of work and it goes way past a little sensitivity training." Word.

Kathryn Mitrow (aka Katie Conservative) is talking about how instead of being home studying she is here. (Sing it, sister.) She's talking now about "the chilly climate" of UWO... She's condeming the admin and USC for playing hot potato with this issue. And now major applause because she's talking about the hundreds of dedicated sleepless (!!) women who MADE this an issue, this would have slipped thorugh the cracks. Dear god I'm glad someone pointed that out!!! She's asking 'Davenport why it took so much student outcry and media coverage for the university to do something. WORD. WORD. I'm SOO glad someone pointed that out.

8:03 pm

2007-04-13T20:03:00.000-04:00

Catherine Berr (I think, maybe Barr?), who is a part-time faculty member is speaking now. She's talking about how she came in angry, and how she got really angry at the USC president's words. She wonders how much what we are hearing is spin and how much will really be change. Aw man she's being totally mean to Fab. He's taken such a beating all week... I personally thought he did a really good job and that his speech was really impressive. Maybe that was just me. Anyway she's talking about how cynical she is and how many people need to step up and be accountable. *various mmhmm murmers in the crowd* She's righteous and angry. Good for her, but like... be nice. C'mon now. OK now she's talking about the admin, and about how 20 years ago Western won an award for equity progress and, even then, no one was experiencing that progress (she was working here then doing equity stuff). She knows that, then, there was resistence from the admin to her work, and she has seen a DECREASE in outcomes since the early 1990s. She asks, are we just looking at spin or are we seeing change? And how do we make it happen? Big applause for that...

~~Barbara Corrie, director for the centre for research on violence agains woment and children~~ Barb MacQuarrie, Community Director, Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children here at UWO. She's appealing to the senior admin and board of governors to put in place an accountability framework. She feels that the Gazette was given freedom to operate and that theyre' "not mature or responsible enough to handle that freedom". ....Yup, agreed... but honestly comments like that make my skin carwl a bit as a student journalist myself... but I digress.

OK so now someone how is saying that he's not allowed on campus and is breaking the law being here? I'm not really sure what he's saying to be honest, but a cop just stepped up and made himself really visible. Wow, there are cops everywhere. OK I'm trying to catch what he's saying - something about the the Canadian charter and um, now he's talking about the American Constitution? I really actually don't know what's happening and um, lot sof people are whispering now.... Uh, yeah. Aaaawkard. OK.... Yeah he's reading more constitution stuff now, and yup more cops (including sheetal's favourite lady cop lol) are moving in... wow. Drama folks! Drama! Word is there are "wanted" posters for this guy up in the library!! Oh, he's getting cut off on his 5 minute limit... Um, that was weird.

7:53 pm

2007-04-13T19:53:00.000-04:00

OK more Laurel...

Megan Walker is speaking - she ran for the NDP in this riding earlier this year... She's also a mom and works at the London abused women's centre. She repeats the call for the end of the spoof and sex issues and calls the fact the editors aren't here a "cop out and cowardly." (Am I really changing tenses a lot here? Whatever, this live blogging this is deliciously intense! :) She regrets that all women by virtue of their gender are potential victims of violence, including her daughters. She's got some great statistics on sexual assault and I'm not getting the numbers here, but they're great. She says she expects far more from students today, and can't believe the hate in that newspaper. (Yup.) She says she got lots of phone calls from students, women who had been traumatized. She points out how hurtful the impact was on the community. She agrees with the measures, and suggests that the editor be immediately removed from his position (like Don Imus, she says -- nice parallel. I was hoping someone would bring that up :) Domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and torture is not a joke, she says. She also recommends that future issues of the Gazette contain advertisements and contacts for agencies that abused women can contact - particularly those who may have been triggered by what they've read in the Gazette, ie SACL and Changing Ways. She ends by saying that her hubsand is a journalist and HE says that just because the media has a printing press does not make it immune to the standards the rest of socieity would live by. She got everyone nice and riled up!

Sarve steps up. She's a former member of the editorial board - yup, she resigned over this issue in shame and disappointment. We love her. I can't spell her full name but I'll google it and post it later. She's getting lots of applause which is great. She applauds the measures outlined by Fab but wonders if they should be applied only the Gazette. She refers to the F*Word, and the cover which had a woman in a hijab on the cover with the headline "women in distress"... She suggests that these guidelines should be applied to all publications associated with teh USC.

The executive director of the Women's Community House (plus she's got a bunch of other credentials that I can't type fast enough to catch) is speaking and she brings greetings from SACL (who have a fundraising event tonight) - they thank the USC for the money. She's talking now about the WCH Step it Up Campaign and, quite cheekily (her words) she mentions that they're looking for sponsors and need an additional $1000. She also says that they would deeply appreciate any volunteers (and she gives her phone number), especially from the Gazette and USC staff, as, you know, retribution. I love it. She's totally cheeky. Amazing. She's talking now about Murray Faulkner and how she approves of his response -- how he talked about how men need to be held accountable and how men are struggling with masculine identities. "Many of us were moved to tears," she says "that this had been 'got' by our police chief." So she finds that, given the context and how hard he works in solidarity with them, the way he was depicted in the Gazette was appalling. She appeals for Fab to come volunteer with them. Amazing. I love it.

7:43 pm

2007-04-13T19:43:00.000-04:00

- more chairs brought in, people standing are now sitting
- mics being set up
- timing will be strictly enforced (they even have a buzzer)

Laurel stepping in here for just a moment before passing the laptop back to Sheetal :)
Everyone's

Shannon Dea (women's caucus and SOGS) is speaking. She thanked Fab for the uncondintional apology and asked that we figure out a way to include graduate students in the plebescite Fab mentioned (ie so that the editor could be . She also asked the the editor, who is not a student, sign an agreement that would put her or him under the student code of conduct.

PhD candidate at the faculty of ed - she finds it unacceptable that the editor is not here (applause, applause x2...)

Carina Douglas Library and Information Science grad - 2nd top tier university where she's seen these kinds of pranks take place in the last six years. She also finds it unacceptable the the writer of the article is not named. She says that she's upset that her degree is now affiliated with a national scandal. That the UWO reputation is being smeared is a "slap across the face," as is the fact the editorial staff isn't here... "hegemony of assumed privilege that we can get away with this"... She called for accountability and adult responsibility NOW. She pointed out that in six months 1000s of students will be come.

Elise Thorburn, an MA student at theory and crit: the spoof issuse is only the most aggregious in a long list of offenses the gazette prints on a daily basis, and she's going to remind us of a few of them (YAY!): the snow man contest from earlier this year (literally, chilly! hahaha...) She says that it's really nice to have an apology, finally. Hey - shout out for miss g! Yes. She points out that the first response was ridiculous (get over yourselves) -- "dear gazette, you can get over yourself." Word, sister. WORD. She calls for an immediate drafting of an anti-oppresion policy for the Gazette and USC.

more to come!

7:23 pm

2007-04-13T19:23:00.000-04:00

larissa bartlett acting director of equity services:

- hopes we can be a collective voice for community action
- she has read each letter, visited the blogs and forums, she could never do justice to the knowledge and justice that has been shared on these
- equity services is deeply committed to making sure diversity is celebrated and discrimination and harrassment is not tolerated
- she's been asked what equity is going to do with regards to the climate:
a) ask questions about what campus members are experiencing day to day with this climate and respect to these diversity issues, and produce a report on this.
- she also encourages people to keep up the dialogue with her

fab dolan, USC president
- thanks everyone who has been in touch, letting people know that they take their concerns seriously
- apologizing, he says the USC is ultimately accountable. even if they all had nothing to do with writing it, etc.
- how did this happen? and how does a paper have the editorial freedom to do the kinds of things they did with the issue
- first he wants to talk about what they're going to do
- the relationship between the student government and the paper: the G existed long before the USC incroporated. it's not similar to any relationships that exist elsewhere. it came from good intentions: editorial autonomy. felt that that was the responsibility to the students. that the USC does its best work, with the G looking over the shoulder, holding them accountable.
- they are technically employees of the USC
- a lawyer looks over their issues beforehand to make sure they're okay by the law
- the gazette editors aren't here because they wanted to respect the environment
- he is reading the gazette's apology: ian van den hurk formally apologizes.
the apologies
- gave donation of Sexual Assault Centre of London, increased budget funding to VP of Campus Issues
- the commitments in place before september 1st: mentions "anti-oppression training" alongside equity training, journalistic codes, etc.
- what has inflamed the issue is the general frustration that no one seems accountable, he stresses the need for a formal process in place that allows community members to complain with results
- would hate to set a precedent where USC president could have influence over the G, so wants a process where editorial accountability is in students' hands, with a process for the removal of the editor-in-chief.
- a study group that would have a report by the end of october, looking at structures, boards, etc. that holds them accountable, look at specialty issues (spoof, sex, frosh), look at overall structural things like print schedule etc. that brings the quality down
- why november 1st and not sooner... it happened during exam time so students can't contribute to the process or be engaged right now, esp. because students have become so disengaged and disenfranchised with the paper that they have stopped participating in other complaints procedures like writing letters
- again, he really wants to say again that they are sorry. and that the USC student leaders really apologize. they could have stopped it years ago. but they do own the process and own the fact that they are ultimately responsible.
- please remember that, be they members of the G or the USC, that they're students. sometimes they make mistakes. really big ones.
- he senses there's a different mood in the G office, one of regret.
- points to the value of having a student newspaper, but just make sure that it holds up to the standards of the students, UWO, london community, canadian community, etc.
- he's sticking around for questions

7:10pm

2007-04-13T19:08:00.000-04:00

paul davenport, then fred longstaffe, then roma harris

paul:
he's had over 150 emails, phone calls, messages in the last 10 days or so.
he's here to listen but also wants to say--
he recognizes 3 essential points:

a) a strong community of feeling about western's values about these things
b) men in the administration must be front and centre in this
c) university's reputation ... the admin pointing to the USC is not enough
- looking into fees and other measures can take if things get out of hand... he hopes we don't have to go there. he was heartened by the media releases put out this afternoon by the USC and the editors of the Gazette [they released an official apology earlier today]

fred longstaffe, provost:
- this event has underscored the work in progress that is
- the USC and Gazette have indicate steps he thinks are important for the types of changes that have to take place and he wants to acknowledge that
- he wants to indicate his firm belief that the responsibility lies with the central administration and across the campus
- wants to create a culture that is embedded here so this kinda thing doesn't happen the gazette or anywhere
- wants to establish a mechanism where they can all be more effective in creating the type of environment that makes UWO a great place

roma harris,
- has been involved for 30 years in working with abused women, etc. [she's listing a lot of her experiences working with women's and LGBTQ groups, particulalry in area of violence]
- an author of the "chilly climate" report
- she's giving the history so we know that she "gets it"
- says the men in the admin "get it" to, even when they sometimes don't agree
- the issue is: what is to be done with this?
- met yesterday with fab dolan, and editors, etc.
- met with community stakeholders to tell the USC what they should do:
1/an apology from the Gazette and the USC
2/ see the G adopt a journalistic code of ethics
3/ a board or advisor
4/ development of meaningful complaints process and governance for USC over G
5/ training
6/ strong recommendation that they stop publishing the Spoof issue and the Sex issue
[about 20 seconds of applause here]
7/ because she feels the G and the USC have taken steps she is willing to work with them in good faith.

6:59pm

2007-04-13T18:59:00.000-04:00

UWO
UC
Conron Hall

the place is almost at capacity... let's say 186 and counting.
students, professors, activists, USC members (including president fab dolan), concerned community folk, artists, etc. are here
A channel is here

paul davenport, presisdent of UWO is getting ready to speak

bonnie mclaughlin is opening things-- speaking on behalf of the women's caucus who is hosting the event. she's saying this forum is :

1. to share some of the ways we've been affected
2. act as community with diverse voices to come up with ideas to move forward with-- w working and playing environment respectful of everyone and safe
3. she's explaining the ground rules for the talk
4. her assurances: this will remain a constructive dialogue in keeping with Ontario Human Rights Code and UWO's codes.
5. synopsis from this meeting will be posted on women's caucus website
6. there is a police presence here
7. a space is provided to debrief the meeting with trauma counsellors on site
8. this has not been organized to target men

paul davenport will speak first...

dispatches from the town hall...

2007-04-13T16:46:00.000-04:00

hey y'all

just letting you know that i'll be live blogging from the Town Hall tonight at UWO.

be forgiving-- it'll be my first time.

Reflections from the USC Meeting

2007-04-13T01:49:00.000-04:00

My Wednesday night, between 7 and about 2am, was spent at the last council meeting of the University Students' Council at Western. Here's my play-by-play, and reflections.

The first thing that happened (after a beautiful group rendition of Oh Canada and the Western song...no comment... and regular council biz-niss) was that several people took the opportunity of question and answer time to speak about the Gazette Spoof Issue, including folks from SOHOC, some student council members, and several WIN and Miss G members. Understandably, lots of people were upset, and a few people told some really powerful personal stories.

Council Prez Fab Dolan stepped up at this point to respond to people's concerns and offered to meet in his office with anyone who was concerned about this issue. So, immediately after that, that's what we did. About 8 people met with Fab in his office, including representatives from SOHOC, WIN and the Miss G Project to talk about our concerns and about what the USC can and should do. For about 2 hours.

I'm actually going to let Craig Ashbourne of SOHOC take over here - this is copied and pasted from SOHOC's update on the issue, explaining what happened. Because it's late and these last few days have taken a lot of my energy. I'll put my thoughts afterwards.

Explaining that his hands were tied by the USC's lawyers as far as accepting any responsibility, for example by calling for an editor's resignation or issuing an apology, Fab reiterated his stance that the proper solution was simply this proposed study group, with a long term goal of addressing a number of issues at the Gazette.

Those of us present in the room made it clear to him that this was not an acceptable solution, and in no way began to address the damage done by this particular issue, both to the students' sense of safety on campus, as well as the university's reputation. Eventually, a symbolic gesture was agreed upon, as a starting point, a bare minimum of action. The USC, in a carefully worded motion intended, once again, to placate their lawyers' concerns, stated that considering that "recent events had called into question the USC's stance with regards to the rights of women, and their commitment to the safety of women", they were prepared to make a donation (which happens to be roughly equivalent to the cost of printing the 'Spoof' issue - $1500) to the Sexual Assault Center here in London, with an equal amount going to an on-campus initiative to raise awareness concerning sexual assault.

(And as I noted in the last post, I've spoken to the executive directory today and she'd like to put the money towards working with students.)

Several council members spoke against the motion (to earmark and donate this money) but I spoke for it on behalf of the Miss G Project. The motion passed with more than 2/3 of council voting for it. This is what I told council.

No, this isn't perfect. But I wouldn't be supporting this if I thought it was simply "hush money," or if I thought that this was the USC's only response. A lot of people on council wanted to do something to act immediately (which I was SO happy to see and hear). Options such as firing the Gazette editor or suspending him for 2 weeks without pay were all brought up, but the LAST thing I want to see is for Ian Van Den Hurk to win a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the USC over this (and have the ultimate end of all this work being 'he won'... And from the legal advice, any move the USC makes that would imply that the editor was wrong would leave them wide open for a lawsuit. Which SUCKS but that's the reality we have to work with.)

Also, speaking for myself, I have to say that I'd much rather see the editor resign than to see the USC fire him. Let's be clear: I want him GONE over this issue. I want this issue, and him resigning over it, to be a blight on his future career plans (even more than it already is). But I also firmly believe in the importance of a student media that operates independently from student government.

To me, the USC's responsibility here is to ensure that students aren't being harassed on campus and to ensure that the campus environment is not one that's hostile to any UWO students. And quite frankly, in continuing to allow the Gazette to function as it does, to print offensive, hurtful garbage like this (and like what it's been publishing for years and years), the USC is failing in that.

Which is why I think the steps the USC is starting (and I repeat, starting) to take are the right ones. In making this donation to SACL and on-campus programming the USC is making an immediate, responsive gesture that says "we care about the rights of women and queer students and the safety of all students on campus." Theyr'e also communicating the anger and frustration of, from what I saw at the meeting, was the majority of the council members in a way that doesn't leave the USC open for any lawsuits.

In the long run, they're also promising (and we're committed to making sure they fully follow through with this promise) what they're calling "study groups" on the Gazette's policies, quality, print schedule etc. -- and what we're choosing to interpret as (and will continue to both push for and work with the USC for) "tearing down the Gazette and rebuilding it from the ground up." (And I realize that might be naive, that the USC surely doesn't want to do as much as we do to the Gazette -- but if the USC thinks we plan to shut about this or let off the pressure for a minute, then they're the naive ones.)

Some things we've already talked to Fab about "putting on the list" for those study groups to do:
- working towards greater editor accountability (for example, restructuring the relationship between the USC and the Gazette so that the editor could be removed by the students, through a plebescite or other process)
- looking seriously at the Gazette's policies towards new writers
- the development of an anti-oppression policy document for the Gazette.
- considering publishing fewer issues a week, to focus on quality rather than quantity
- mentoring by seasoned journalists and training in media ethics and social responsibility for Gazette staff
- the creation of a board of community members (students, faculty, and members of the London community) to regularly review the Gazette -- not the censor the paper or to review it before press, but to keep it under constant review of the community

We look forward to working with incoming president Tom Stevenson to put these in motion.

Let's just be clear:

This ain't over.

With other campus groups we're continuing to take the necessary steps to filing an official complaint against the Gazette, the USC and the UWO administration with the Ontario Human Rights Commission for creating, as the OHRC literature calls it, "a poisoned environment" for female students.

We continue to call for Ian Van Den Hurk to do the right thing and resign, with a real, formal, public apology (none of this "we're sorry you were offended" crap). We continue to call for the Gazette to name the writer -- no more hiding.

We continue to call for the UWO administration to seriously address the chilly climate that is UWO, of which the Gazette is symtomatic but for which the UWO administration is also responsible. We continue to work with concerned UWO students and faculty and concerned citizens from all over the country to work towards our ultimate goal -- making Western a more hospitable, less violent and hostile environment for female and queer students. The revolution starts with the Gazette - the number one offender right now.

So keep sending your letters. Keep making those phone calls. Don't you stop, and we won't stop...!

(yeah I've been listening to A LOT of Le Tigre these days :).

And lastly, for those in London, be sure to come out to the TOWN HALL MEETING today (Friday April 13):

TOPIC:
The April 1st Gazette "spoof" issue, Rape Culture and the Chilly Climate at UWO

WHERE: Conron Hall (UC 224)
WHEN: this Friday, April 13th, 7:00-9:00 PM

COME OUT, SPEAK UP, AND BE HEARD.

Response from Chief Faulkner, Equity Services (and the USC)

2007-04-12T14:11:00.000-04:00

I must say that I think Chief Faulkner has done a good job these past few days of responding to this issue and to reiterating his position on violence against women. I know he's also been in contact with the Sexual Assault Centre of London and they're satisfied with his response as well. While it's important for us to say revved up about this, I also think it's important to recognize ground we're gaining and to congratulate those who act, and with dignity, in this issue.

On that note, I'm going to post shortly on my reflections from being at and participating in the USC meeting last night, at which they voted to earmark $1500 for on-campus programming around sexual assault and rape and about the rights and safety of women and queer people on campus, and to donate an additional $1500 to the Sexual Assault Centre London -- and after speaking with Louise Pitre, the Executive Director, she has said that she would like to put that money toward an initiative that will help the students out.

(Here's the short version of the post I'll make later: while I don't think throwing money at the problem is the answer, I am happy with the USC's actions so far in making a very public symbolic statment that they remain committed to creating a safe environment for all students and we look forward to working with them during the summer to remake a lot of the Gazette's policies from the ground up.)

In the meantime, here is Chief Faulkner's reply email to me. You all may have gotten similar ones by now too I imagine?

Ms. Mitchell:

Thank you for expressing your concern over this matter. Let me clearly state my actions in response to this article.

On Monday, April 9th, I received a telephone call from a reporter with The London Free Press, asking for my comments about an article in The Gazette (a student-owned and student-run newspaper), published April 1, 2007. I was not aware of this article and asked the reporter to read it to me.

To say I was shocked and disappointed is an understatement. I told the reporter I was angry over the fact that the article made light of violence against women, something our Police Service and I, personally, have spoken out publicly against. Even though the article was making fun of me, I am more concerned that the issue of violence against women has been treated so lightly. In the past two days, I have completed at least eight media interviews, locally and nationally, stating my position with respect to violence against women.

In the late 1970’s, the London Police Service was the first service to initiate a domestic violence charge policy. I am an active participant in the Mayor’s Task Force to End Domestic Violence and have served for over 12 years on the Board of the Centre for Children & Families in the Justice System.

It is regrettable that the editor of this paper saw fit to publish this distasteful piece of writing that has offended so many people in the London community and beyond. I also empathize with the majority of students, past and present, of this great institution, whose opinions are not reflected by this article.

Wm. Murray Faulkner,
Chief of Police.

And here is the (stock) response from UWO Equity Services, which I've believe everyone's getting.

Dear Ms. Mitchell:

Thank you for your message.

On March 30th, 2007, the Gazette newspaper published its annual April Fool's "Spoof Issue". The issue, and articles contained within it, has caused upset and concern to many on our campus and within our community. Equity & Human Rights Services is disappointed by the publication and does not condone the remarks made in the March 30st, 2007 edition of the Gazette.

The University of Western Ontario and the Office of Equity & Human Rights Services take seriously the commitment to an environment free of discrimination and harassment on our campus. Due to the volume of concerns received and issues raised regarding safety and climate, we are actively looking into the matter in order to take further steps. In order to do so, we are working with members of Western's community, the University Students' Council, and the administration team.

We would be pleased to meet with any University of Western Ontario member, in a confidential manner, to discuss concerns. Please contact Larissa Bartlett at larissa.bartlett@uwo.ca or x83334 to set up an appointment.

For further information about Equity & Human Rights Services, please visit our website: www.uwo.ca/equity .

Regards,
Larissa Bartlett
Acting Director, Equity & Human Rights Services

It is the university's responsibility though to receive your complaints, so please feel free to continue sending emails to equity@uwo.ca.

PS Also let me apologize that we've been so shitty at responding to comments on this thing lately. We'll get to them soon, promise!

more media...

2007-04-11T09:04:00.000-04:00

PS Looking for more examples of the history of the Gazette's, um, interesting journalistic choices?
UWO Media Watch

UPDATED: the media so far and other important links

2007-04-10T09:24:00.000-04:00

Newspapers and Magazines:
The National Post
The London Free Press
Letter to the Editor from Michelle Miller in the Free Press
Ian Gillespie in the London Free Press
The Toronto Star
Western News
The Globe & Mail
The University of Toronto Varsity
Winnipeg Sun (syndicated)
Canadian University Press Newswire (syndicated in Canadian university newspapers)
Ottawa Citizen (editorial)
Western News, town hall coverage
Western News, "USC moves up schedule for Gazette reforms"
The Carleton University Charletan
Macleans Magazine

Blogs & websites:
Rabble.ca: by Craig Ashbourne, and by the Miss G__ Project
Radical Feminist @ YouTube
Broadsheet @ Salon.com
Feministe.us
Pandagon
The JuxtaFeminist Cafe
Feministing
Feminst Don't Bake Bread
London IndyMedia (and another one)
CoolWomen.ca
Antigone Magazine
Feminist @ LiveJournal
Shameless Magazine Blog
Your Dirty Answer
Post-Secondary Education Blog
Karmacake
Unpopular Culture
One Less Thing
London Commons
Politics 'n' Poetry
Feminist Toronto
Babble (discussion @ rabble.ca)
Rambling Socialist
Trent University LiveJournal Community
Octopus Books
Inside the Box
Midget Queen
Macleans Columnist (& CUP President) Erin Millar's Blog (I hate the "I'm not a feminist but" line she pulls in here to back up her ignorance, but I looove the last paragraph where she suggests that someone should hire Western's briliant feminists. I couldn't agree more, Erin! :)

TV:
A Channel News
Rogers TV
Global News

Radio:
Broady Speaking on CHRW (mp3 of the show)
CBC Toronto
Ian Van Den Hurk interviewed on CBC Radio As It Happens ( you can listen to it here - I think it's in part 2 .... Barbara Budd totally takes him down, whee!)
Fanshawe College's XFM
FM 96 (London)
AM 980 (London)
...and other local radio stations

In the Gazette:

Letters to the editor - April 5, 2007 and April 11, 2007 (and can i just add that i referred to myself as an "alumna" ... which the patriarchs changed to "alumnus".... coincidence? i think not.)

The Gazette's April 4th Editorial (of "get over yourselves" fame)

...And their April 10 Editorial: "[The article] was intended to satirize perceptions of women and feminism... But we -- in no way, shape or form -- meant to trivialize or make light of something like sexual assault. As more and more letters came in, it became apparent the article was misinterpreted. That isn’t the readers’ fault. Obviously, we failed at our attempt to make social commentary." Oopsy... "As such, we apologize the article didn’t convey what we wanted it to." Not exactly the same as an apology that they fucked up though, now is it?

Responses:

UWO President & Vice Chancellor Paul Davenport's response

The responses of USC President Fab Dolan, incoming President Tom Stevenson, and the Gazette's Anna Coutts

London Police Chief Murray Faulkner responds with comments in a London Free Press article (additional response from Faulkner, and Equity Services, here.)

Articles

Jenna Owsianik (aka Jennifer Ostrich)'s October 2006 article in the Huron Grapevine, "What's Wrong with the Gazette".

Text (and scan) of March 30th "Labia Majora Carnage (aka "the offending article")

The harrowing, inspiring and totally true story of Jennifer Ostrich

2007-04-10T07:04:00.000-04:00

I can hardly believe the difference a few days makes. I dare-say we've created a movement. Yesterday I was on the phone with a reporter at the University of Calgary one minute, sitting in the guest chair on the CHRW show Broadly Speaking the next, and rallying people for the USC meeting tomorrow night the next, all the while trying to keep up with the literal flood that is my inbox these days. The support -- from everywhere, locally, all over Canada from BC to Newfoundland, from students to profs to parents to journalists to politicians, and now trickling in from the US too as many American feminist blogs are starting to pick up the story -- is truly incredible.

It's got Sheetal and I thinking about narratives... (Well, OK, the English students in us are pretty much always thinking about narratives.) Anyway, it made me want to show just neatly any first-year English student could trace the narrative of this particularl story.

It goes something like this:

Amazing woman (that would be Jenna Owsianik, er, "Jennifer Ostrich") speaks out about injustice spewing out of the big bad newspaper. Big bad newspaper tries to silence her with not-so-veiled threats. Amazing woman prevails, crushing big bad newspaper under her fabulous stiletto heels.

OK, so maybe it's a bit more complicated than that simplified story... but not a whole lot.

April 2006. Last year's Gazette Spoof Issue. And let me tell you, it wasn't much more of a shining example of...well, anything, than this year's is. As Jenna (our heroine) writes in her October 2006 article in the Grapevine

The cover photo was of the Saugeen Stripper. It was a naked photograph pulled off the internet and published without her consent, next to a degrading article. The text inspired negative feelings towards women who wish to exert control over their own bodies and sexuality. It made a joke out of the very serious and very real harms of sexual violence against women present in our culture today.

Sing it, sister. (Though I almost can't bear to write the rest of this story after that....)

Our heroine spends her summer reading the Gazette (punishment in and of itself), cataloging the offenses and coming up with no small number. In October 2006 she writes about it in the Grapevine, finishing it all off with a totally reasonable, mature and intelligent challenge:

I personally challenge everyone at the Gazette, and everyone who aspires to be a reputable journalist to be more responsible, and acknowledge the power you have in creating popular discourses which shape our realities and contribute to perpetuating inequalities among people by upholding stereotypes, breeding apathy by dismissing objectionable writing as just ‘jokes,’ and maintaining the invisibility of already marginalized minority groups.

Our heroine spends most of the school year making attempt after thwarted attempt to work with the Gazette, including volunteering her time for them and writing stories they never publish. Evidence of her continued work and criticism does show up twice in published letters to the editor though, on September 28...

...I feel as though you are using your position as a Gazette writer to undermine and promote the censorship of individuals who do not share your beliefs... Sadly, this seriously impedes the possibility of having valuable intellectual discussions and actually getting to the root of any problems...

and November 23...

...What I think is lost here is the history of The Gazette has been extremely phallocentric. This constant recurrence operates to the degree that it dominates other forms of imagery and discourse. I love penises; it’s just that my vagina wants fair and equitable representation!

Fast-forward a little now to March 2007. After months of serious attempts to work with The Gazette and experiencing firsthand, as she said in her first letter back in September, the Gazette editorial board's "[undermining] and [promotion of] the censorship of individuals who do not share [their] beliefs," our heroine has been frequently dismissed and often made fun of. But our heroine is tough. She doesn't let this get to her and she keeps on fighting the good fight.

(Now, I feel like this is the moment in historical movies when the tragedy finally happens. We all know it's coming, but it still fucking sucks.)

March 30, 2007. The Gazette publishes a story called "Labia Majora Carnage," anonymously, under the pseudonym "Xavier," a 'spoof' of Take Back the Night Marches, The UWO Women's Issues Network, and (it would seem) the Vagina Monologues. The ringleader character of the article is (not-so-)curiously named "Jennifer Ostrich," identified as a "vocal WIN member" (my emphasis). Our beleaguered heroine, along with 30,000 of her peers, basically gets to read the fantasy of some anonymous writer for the publication she as been critical of but trying so desperately to change all year in which she her disembodied vagina is raped by the London Police Chief, to be taught a lesson. (But it's ok, she said NO but her wild vagina said yes yes yes! .....)

Suddenly, the safe and harassement-free environment our heroine had taken for granted as...oh, I don't know, her right as a univeristy student at UWO, is taken away from her in one foul swoop.

Now true, it was an impressive effort by the big bad newspaper to silence our heroine, or at the very least to humiliate her for being so annoying to them all year long. And hey in the process, that'll teach any of those other hairy-legged crazy feminists to try to mess with The Patriarchal Press - er, The Gazette! Job well done boys! (And this is the scene in which all the editors get together and smoke cigars and congratulate each other for taking care of the "woman problem" swiftly and expediently.)

(OK maybe that didn't happen. Does it matter though? Even if the editors never sat down and said how can we silence feminists, they're still drawing on time-honoured scripts of how to keep feminists down.... threaten them with rape and humiliation.)

Anyway back to our story. An impressive effort it was, but the big bad newspaper didn't count on the sheer brute, patriarchy-busting strength of our heroine and the quickly-expanding army of women and men ready to stand behind her. One might say, they didn't realize who they were messing with, and suddenly, their necks were on the line. Oopsy!

How does the story end? I don't know. You'll have to stay tuned with the rest of us in our amazing diy "I AM JENNIFER OSTRICH" t-shirts (we're thinking for the back - "I refuse to keep my head in the sand" - what do you think?)

In the meantime, will someone with better drawing skills than me PLEASE make this into a comic already? Jenna, you'd make one hot superhero and I can just picture the bad guy, Gazette editor Ian Van Den Hurk... dark evil eyes, slobber dripping down his face, big deformed chin and a giant wart on his nose.....

What? It's satire. Geez, take a joke.

(PS How do you like our new look?)

press release from the miss g___ project...

2007-04-10T01:27:00.000-04:00

(the miss g___ project just issued this press release following statements from the USC and The Gazette. you can find the responses of the UWO Students' Council president and Anna Coutts of the Gazette below)

The Miss G__ Project Condemns The UWO Gazette's Rape "Spoof," Demands Formal Apology and Editor's Resignation

Recently, Anna Coutts of the UWO Gazette and UWO Students' Council President Fab Dolan both responded to the public outcry over the printing of offensive, hateful material in the March 30 issue of The Gazette. (Both responses, as well as the original offending article, are re-printed on SoapboxSpinster at http://soapboxspinster.blogspot.com)

We offer the following in response.

Anna Coutts writes, on behalf of The Gazette, "Obviously, we failed at our attempt to make social commentary." And she's absolutely right -- they failed.

They failed in publishing a student publication that reflects students. They failed to meet the basic level of journalistic (not to mention, human) integrity. And, perhaps most urgently, they failed to take responsibility for the full measure of this failure.

The Gazette's continued misogyny and homophobia has gone on despite a great deal of student imput, such as that which prominent Miss G__ Project member Jenna Owsianik has singlehandedly offered countless times in the past year. In the March 30 "Spoof Issue," in which, intentionally or not, The Gazette did make a joke about rape -- the (still shamefully anonymous) author joked that a student, who is very clearly a student at this school (Jenna Owsianik), would enjoy being raped at a Take Back the Night March. It did -- we read it. In fact, a lot of people read it. Including Jenna Owsianik, whose right to live, work and study in a environment free from harassment (sexual and otherwise) was taken away from her on March 30 with The Gazette's choice to publish this article. And for The Gazette to stand by its "get over yourselves" response is not only disrespectful; it's appalling.

We, along with many other concerned students and citizens, will continue to disseminate copies of this offensive and hateful material, ensuring that as many people as possible know what kind of violent environment this is for women. The Gazette published material that sexually harasses and humiliates a well-known UWO student. This was done knowing that this student (and that other students) would know the article was about her. The Gazette went so far as to paraphrase her words to ensure that she would immediately recognize herself. She doesn't think it's funny.

The staff of The Gazette should be ashamed of themselves for their actions, and the fact that they are not is just a testament to the fact that a campaign against The Gazette needs to continue. We find it hard to believe that in 2007, a group of university-educated students appear completely oblivious to the fact that they have committed a gross injustice against a specific student or a group of students by portraying them being tortured through rape.

Now The Gazette appears to be saying that rape isn't mentioned and it's just our dirty minds interpreting 'rape.' (Perhaps the police chief is helping her write letters to her mom with his "greased up nightstick" in the dark alleyway?) Contrary to what The Gazette may believe, we, and the large number of supporters who have gotten behind this cause in the past few days, do not try to read rape into every piece of trash we read.

Give us a break.

The Gazette defends the article by saying that it was intended to make fun of stereotypes about feminists. (And we suppose the article about a gay affair, published in the same issue, was to make fun of stereotypes about gay people, right?) This is not a remotely believable, let alone acceptable, excuse. They say that people who oppose the sexual harassment of students in a campus wide publication should "learn to take a joke" -- that we should "get over" ourselves. That is not a remotely responsible, accountable or satisfactory response.

We demand that The Gazette immediately release a public, formal apology to Jenna Owsianik and to the whole student body for the article, followed by the immediate resignation of the Gazette's Editor-in-Chief Ian Van Den Hurk. In light of the seriousness of the offense, the sexual harassment of a UWO student involved, and the breach of good journalistic practice, this is the very least that can and must be done.

After this action is taken, we are happy to see the university and the University Students' Council take steps towards improving the quality of The Gazette and its relationship to the student body, and we hope in the course of what demands to be a large-scale project, The Gazette will be forced to listen to a diverse, representative group of voices and their critiques -- something it has never done. We are happy to see the suggestion of sensitivity training, as this is clearly something the editors of this publication surely need, but we also hope that it is accompanied by some serious training in anti-oppression politics and the development of anti-oppression regulations by which The Gazette commits to abiding.

Quite simply, the responsive measures offered by Anna Coutts and The Gazette, as well as those presented earlier by USC President Fab Dolan, in the absence of immediate disciplinary action and a public apology, are insulting to the seriousness of this situation, to say the least.

We intend to continue sending copies of that article, now accompanied by The Gazette's and the response, to concerned citizens, including parents' groups, across this province. As a diverse group made up of both students and educators, we believe it is of the utmost importance that parents be aware that they may be choosing to send their children to a school where the only well funded publication unabashedly and seemingly without consequence makes jokes about the most horrendous violence a woman can endure -- a tool of war. They also have a right to know that UWO is a school where those jokes are used by that same publication as its only threatened (and threatening) response when strong, intelligent women such as Jenna Owsianik challenge them to show some integrity.

But, we assume that The Gazette won't mind if parents of candidate students read this story, since it sees no problem with it. Right?

Yours, in disappointment and disgust,
The concerned students, educators, alumni, parents and citizens of
The Miss G__ Project for Equity in Education

# # #

If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Laurel Mitchell, Jenna Owsianik or other members of the Miss G__ Project, please contact Laurel Mitchell at laurel@themissgproject.org or (519) 719-2868.

The Miss G__ Project is a group of concerned citizens working together to promote equity in education, to combat sexism and homophobia through education, and to encourage active citizenship. For more information please visit www.themissgproject.org.

monday april 9th-- recap o' responses...

2007-04-10T00:39:00.000-04:00

so here are the responses we received today, from : Fab Dolan, current USC president; Tom Stevenson, incoming USC president, and then the editorial staff of The Gazette (*this* one is a beauty....):

Fab's (un)fab reply:

Thank you for expressing your concern over this matter. First, I would like to apologize in advance for being unable to respond to your concerns in a more personal manner. As you might imagine, I have received a significant number of e-mails and phone calls similar to yours.

As always, when discussing The Gazette’s content, I must reiterate the USC’s continued commitment to maintaining editorial autonomy. While I may not always agree with the nature of The Gazette’s articles, any attempt by myself or the USC to influence content would be inappropriate.

I can, however, assure you that your disappointment has been echoed by many others, and has helped to expedite an initiative designed to ensure that The Gazette remains respectable and continues to enhance the undergraduate student experience at Western.

In my time as President, I have paid much attention to long-term strategic planning. Part of this included efforts to explore possible improvements to all USC services, including The Gazette. Accordingly, I have worked throughout the year with Gazette Editor-in-Chief Ian Van Den Hurk. Due to concerns such as yours, our effort was increased over the past week, allowing us to reach the following course of action:

1. A Study Group will be created and tasked with researching possible ways to improve The Gazette’s value to students. Topics for discussion will include, but not be limited to, the following:

i) Editor accountability and removal process.
ii) Sensitivity training for all Gazette editors.
iii) Overall quality of the paper.
iv) The Gazette publishing schedule.

2. A forum will be held early next year to allow students and alumni a chance to comment on The Gazette. This will allow the Study Group an opportunity to gain valuable insight from the Western community.

3. The formation of the Study Group and the forum will be advertised in The Gazette and on the USC website.

The recent Spoof Issue of The Gazette has raised concerns for many people in our community. It is important to reach a solution that satisfies the long-term goals of the students of The University of Western Ontario. Thanks to the cooperation of The Gazette’s staff, as well as our ability to promote discourse on this matter (an opportunity made possible by people such as yourself), I am confident that the above course of action will allow us to proceed respectfully, while preserving the paper’s autonomy and its responsibility to students. I know, from my discussions with Mr. Van Den Hurk, that these sentiments are shared by The Gazette’s editorial board.

Thanks, again, for raising your concerns. If you have any further comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,

Fab Dolan

Tom's reply

Hi Sheetal,

Thank you for your letter of concern. You can rest assured that you
were not the only one who was offended by the issue. It has raised
quite a stir.

For starters, the Gazette has complete editorial autonomy, meaning
that the USC has no control over what they say and/or how they say it.

By that same token, however, the Gazette should stand for editorial integrity.

So here is what is happening:
- current president Fab Dolan, editor in chief Ian van den Hurk and I
had a meeting this morning to discuss the issue
- we are currently brainstorming ways that we can bring about Gazette
reform, including greater accountability to the students, sensitivity
training, and student response forums

Stay tuned for details about the whens and wheres. Action is
definitely being taken.

Sincerely,

Tom Stevenson
USC President-elect

and here we go... you know how i love saving the best for last.... here we have Anne Coutts, Arts and Entertainment Editor, speaking on behalf of the entire editorial team over at the Gazette. this she posted on the facebook group wall:

The follow posts are The Gazette's response to the spoof issue (running in the April 10th issue):
Word of our Spoof Issue, particularly the article "Labia Majora Carnage," has spread quickly, and it's clear numerous people were upset by its content. Many people believe we ignore students' criticisms or that we aren't held accountable for our actions, and we'd like to address those concerns now.

"Labia Majora Carnage," specifically, was intended to satirize perceptions of women and feminism. More specifically, we crammed in as many feminist stereotypes as possible — the dreadlocks, the tribal dances, the man hating — thinking students would realize the ridiculousness behind such stereotypes. We hoped students would look at it and agree with us that the stereotypes are absurd and have no place in modern society.

Also, some students feel two paragraphs in the article promote or normalize sexual assault. This, again, was not the intention nor the perceived reading of the article we thought we would achieve. When the vagina ended up "loving the man in uniform," we hoped to make a point that no really does mean no, that the idea a woman always desires a man's sexual advances — regardless of what she says — is a terrible and erroneous assertion. We thought we were admonishing the very thing people are upset about.

We're aware this sounds like backpedaling, and last week we wrote in an editorial that people should be able to take a joke. We still stand by that. We genuinely poked fun at feminism in that article too, and it was meant to provide some laughs.
But we — in no way, shape or form — meant to trivialize or make light of something like sexual assault. As more and more letters came in, it became apparent the article was misinterpreted. That isn't the readers' fault. Obviously, we failed at our attempt to make social commentary.

Regardless of intended meanings, the article made some people, particularly victims of sexual assault, uncomfortable, something we never wished for. As such, we apologize the article didn't convey what we wanted it to. It wasn't a rape joke — it was meant to rip negative ideas regarding women and sex.

Students have been asking about accountability and have every right to do so. Gazette Editor-in-Chief Ian Van Den Hurk has had frequent discussions with University Students' Council President Fab Dolan this year about improving The Gazette through student input and criticism of the Spoof Issue has accelerated this process.

To allow students greater flexibility in shaping their newspaper, the following will take place:
1. A study group will be created and tasked with researching possible ways to improve our value to you. Topics of discussion include, among other things:
a) editor accountability and removal process
b) sensitivity training for all editors
c) overall quality of the paper
d) our publishing schedule
2. A forum will be held next year to allow students and alumni a chance to comment on the paper. This will provide the study group with insight from the Western community.
Frequently, Gazette staffers question campus' perception of the paper and what can be done to involve more student input. Hopefully, this will help.
Though just two issues remain, we encourage everyone to keep writing us letters about the Spoof Issue and the year as a whole — good or bad.

the scoop...

2007-04-09T16:26:00.000-04:00

since more folk are visiting the blog from rabble.ca, let me catch you up to speed here .

why jennifer ostrich was targeted and its implications.

2007-04-09T16:16:00.000-04:00

i think a lot of what bothers me when people pull out the "freedom of speech" card as a trump card in their defense of the article (beyond my reading of the article as hate speech which negates the defense of "free speech" for me), is this:

i read this article in direct intertext with the work done by a "vocal" (note Xavier's use of the word, and the loudspeaker trope.
clearly s/he has a problem with "jennifer ostrich" SPEAKING) campus activist who has been working very hard for over a year, challenging the gazette to practice responsible (nonhateful) journalism:

her article

so i wonder this: what about "jennifer ostrich"'s right to speak up without having to fear sexual harassment and the threat of rape to "teach [her] a lesson" by anonymous cowards who have on their side: the institutional authority of a newspaper (allowing them a knee-jerk "freedom of the press" defence for their terrible excuse for "journalism" that is informed by a white mid-upper class heterosexual male political agenda bent on protecting their privilege and holding themselves accountable to no one), a campus culture that downplays the issue of sexual assault, and a general societal context of a "rape culture."

the threat of sexual(ized) violence/reprucussions is a way in which feminist voices are continually policed-- these threats are used to silence them, "teach them a lesson," and put them in their place so that they don't step out of line and speak up again.

how disgusting that a campus activist who has asked the gazette to act responsibly and to answer to the interests of all students is attacked by this sort of gender-based violence.

it reminds me of an article about a similar trend in the
blogosphere except in this case we have a student newspaper that is subject to human rights codes, regulations, laws, and is accountable to the student community.

they have in the past -- and continue to -- create an unsafe and
hostile environment for women and queer students, and to have them depict the SILENCING of a feminist voice through sexual assault, which in a cultural/political/social context contributes to a larger discipling method, a threat, by which feminist voices are policed (interesting that it is the police chief who rapes in the article), is utterly reprehensible.

and then to have people suggest that the anonymous writer has a right to (hate speech under the guise of) "free speech" and "satire" (also, as a grad student in English, i really roll my eyes at anyone who suggests that this is satire. watch the colbert report tonight and gimme a call: then we'll talk.) without recognizing the freedom of "jennifer ostrich" (A REAL PERSON behind a really thin pseudonym, which i find dangerous and troubling) to speak out politically without fear of this sort of attack is ridiculous.

frankly if that writer thinks s/he has a right to this type of "free speech" i'm not sure why s/he remains anonymous.

and if the gazette editorial staff thought that we were going to learn our lesson, remain silent on this issue, and just "get over it"... i think we're proving them wrong.

keep speaking up. use your voices, be VOCAL, and if you find a
loudspeaker, USE IT.

keep on keepin' on,

sheetal :)

because i heart feminist men...

2007-04-09T14:58:00.000-04:00

james phelan made some pretty great points in a facebook group discussion that i thought i'd repost here:

I should, for the sake of academic self-preservation, be working furiously on an essay of still-uncertain argument or getting a decent night's sleep so I'll be fresh for tomorrow's slog, but Facebook procrastination has led me here and now I'm too angry to think about anything but the stupidity and callousness and cowardice of the UWO Gazette's anonymous rape satirist and his defenders on the paper's editorial board. I haven't come close to reading everything that's been written about the article in question or the editors' response to the outcry against it, here or elsewhere. Excuse me if I repeat what others have already said. I apologize, also, if this reads a too much like a stuffy English paper: I've been working on stuffy English papers all day, every day for so long that I find myself using formal prose to order pizza and writing love letters in MLA style.

Let's set aside "Labia Majora Carnage" (I feel gross just typing that title) itself for a moment and consider the paper's response to its detractors. The Gazette's editors, in their letter of April 4, try to have it both ways. On one hand, they defend their offensiveness by stating, more or less accurately, that "ninety per cent of satire will offend somebody" as it "inherently involve[s] making fun of something", and puff themselves up as serious social commentators in noting the "criticisms of Western culture beneath some of the barbs tossed" in the April Fools' issue. On the other hand, they suggest that everybody knows the issue is a silly romp and claim that "Labia Majora" is so obviously a playful exercise in pure "absurdity" that the "PC" killjoys who take their "joke" seriously "insult [their] readers' intelligence". How disingenuous. How slimy. Any halfway attentive reader sees that the article is intended as social commentary. Ugly, idiotic, utterly wrongheaded social commentary. I might find the paper's reluctance to stand by it as such a little bit encouraging if I thought for a moment that they were feeling ashamed of what "Xavier" was saying about Western culture in their pages, rather than just scrambling to do damage control.

The editors do get one thing right: satire is about making fun of things. It is a form of discourse, a way of saying something. That it uses irony and humour is no reason not to take what it says seriously.

So what, then, does the author of "Labia Majora Carnage" seem to be saying?

1. That "Take Back the Night" (and, presumably, similar events that aim to raise awareness of sexual assault and violence against women) are silly and, by implication, that the problems they address aren't as big a deal as feminists and others make them out to be.

2. That feminists (or, at the very least, feminist groups on the UWO campus) are cultish, contemptuous of men, and obsessed with their genitalia. Also, that their frank talk about their reproductive systems is "alienating".

3. That women form irrational commitments because they're women ("My vagina told me that...", "What my vagina wants, my vagina gets", etc.) Note--if it's humanly possible to miss it--the author's fixation on, and apparent revulsion at, the vagina.

4. That feminism (or, to give the author the benefit of the doubt, some form of radical feminism prevalent enough to be represented by a substantial campus group) aims to entrench a definite gender role (involving, in an unconventional mix of stereotypes, lacy nighties and stiletto heels as well as hairy armpits and pudenda) at the expense of gay and transsexual play with gender.

5. That the crazy, rampaging man-haters "Xavier" associates with anti-rape protests are in some sense out of control. (The editors' complaints about excessively "PC" "minority groups" spoiling their fun make the same suggestion more subtly than the author's personification of a protester's vagina as a terrorist does.)

6. That male violence or the sexual domination of women or assertive masculinity--or anything that could conceivably be represented satirically as rape by an authority figure--is a desirable or at least satisfyingly amusing response to the above 'problem'.

7. That jokes at the expense of rape victims are potentially funny. (This flippancy is related to the implication of 1. that the seriousness of rape, as a social problem if not as a crime, is overstated.)

8. That, much as women complain about rape, deep down some of them (most of them? all of them?) like it.

9. That men advocating feminist causes (or, anyway, male university students doing so) are mainly out to get laid. (Admittedly, this isn't unheard of.)

10. That frat boys objectify women, masturbate lots, and can be really disgusting. (As a generalization, this seems fair enough.)

11. That deep down, women, even bushy-armpitted feminist activist types, not only appreciate but are sexually excited by displays of fratboyish objectification. (A less baldly misogynistic, but still pretty baldly misogynistic, echo of 8.)

With the exception of 10. and maybe 9., all of the above points are patently wrong, to varying degrees hateful of women, and for the most part inflammatory to victims of sexual assault. That they are made in series of (badly written, painfully unfunny) jokes makes them no less worthy of protest.

It's not that I don't get the joke. I get it all too well.

It's not that I think rape or anything else ought to be off limits for satire. The failure of men in and out of power to recognize the enormity of rape as a social problem, for instance, and the effect that their routine trivialization of it as a mere "woman's issue" or, worse, a punch line, likely plays in perpetuating the problem is a ripe and worthy target for satirists. I only reserve the right to call out boors or bigots when they use satire to say something contemptible.

It's not that I take "Xavier" or the Gazette editorial board for cowards because they couch their views in satire. That's fine. Rather, I'm convinced of their cowardice by the author's decision to publish "Labia Majora" anonymously and the editors' unwillingness to defend the article's "criticisms of Western culture", though they saw fit to publish it.

Serious people sign their names and say what they mean.

James Phelan
Procrastinator, feminist, guy who's mad as hell and loath to take it anymore
Liberal Arts College, Concordia University

the miss g___ project speaks up...

2007-04-09T13:39:00.000-04:00

Check out this response by members of The Miss G___ Project for Equity in Education at Rabble.ca:

Western Students Fight Back Against Hate

Western, and other Rape-Supportive Cultures

2007-04-08T21:19:00.000-04:00

movingtargets (a.k.a. laurel mitchell) is brilliant, and here is why-- (pleaaase) read her discussion on rape-supportive cultures (seriously):

There seems to be some argument right now on whether we can attack this Gazette article on the basis of whether it "promotes rape" or not. Since it doesn't explicitly say "go rape" anyone, the argument seems to go, there shouldn't be any problem with it.

Well, not to haul out the ol' Women's Studies 101 reader, but let's talk for a minute about rape-supportive cultures (cf. Susan Brownmiller's Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, among others).

"Rape cultures" are cultures in which rape and sexual assault are common and in which the prevalent attitudes and dominant practices of that culture work to excuse and normalize incidences of rape and sexual assault.

So let's see, Western... a college campus - is rape common? You'd better believe it. Do dominant attitudes excuse and condone rape? Leaf through ANY copy of the Gazette and you're pretty likely to find some joke about roofies or rape, or at the very least some sort of objectification. Take notice when the Girls Gone Wild truck visits London once or twice a year. Etc.

Just a joke?

Within the paradigm of rape cultures, normative practices are ALWAYS written off as harmless, often using humour. That's how they get to continue and multiply. That's how attitudes like this flourish. How many sexist jokes do you have to hear or tell before you've fostered an environment in which sexism, disrespecting women, and sexualized violence is not only hilarious, but now, suddenly, the norm?

Ask the Gazette.

And guess what - rape cultures are also detrimental to men, too. Using cultural forces (like, oh I don't know, the media...) gender roles, particularly gendered sex roles, are reinscribed over and and over and over again, gender roles that make female sexuality into passivity and victimhood and male sexuality into an element of force and control. It's also based in homophobia (when was the last time you made or laughed at a joke about someone getting raped in prison?)

So no, the Gazette article by "Xavier" does not explicitly tell its reader - hey rape is awesome! or hey, go out and rape someone! or even (frighteningly) go out and rape this one specific "uppity" woman! (And dear god let's hope that there isn't a Marc Lepine of the world reading it right now and reading it like THAT.)

What it does do is contribute to a culture that allows rape to happen, continually. That excuses it. That normalizes it. That reinscribes gendered sex roles for men and women. That condones the frat-boy-with-roofies in his pocket stereotype as hilarious - instead of terrifying.

Because - are you listening? Because this is important - those frat boys with roofies in their pockets do exist. They don't have friends telling them its a bad idea. They do go to bars. And parties. And coffee shops. And grocery stores. They do make often rude, sometimes terrifying comments to any and all of us who have ever walked down Richmond Row on a Saturday night. And they do drug and rape women.

I hope you heard that, particularly those of you for whom the threat isn't real, for whom the support of Western's rape culture doesn't mean that there are more people out there who will think it's ok to sexually assault YOU.

Well you know what? I'm sick and tired of living in this culture that says it's ok, nay, hilarious, to drug and rape me, to fantasize about doing so, or to write about doing so in a public forum - and worse, to write about doing so as a way to teach me a lesson for being too outspoken. Not illegal? Freedom of speech? Perhaps. But whether it contributes to a culture that normalizes rape is, to me, unquestionable.

the facebook group...

2007-04-08T19:19:00.001-04:00

http://uwo.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2268028777&ref=nf

cuz people seem to like stats...

2007-04-08T17:58:00.000-04:00

From: http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/story.html?listing_id=16127

*Four out of five female undergraduates report being victims of violence in a dating relationship. Among them, 29 per cent report sexual assault.

*A study on date rape in Canadian universities and colleges finds 28% of women report being sexually assaulted.

*Only six per cent of sexual assaults, and one per cent of date rapes, are reported to police.

*Sixty per cent of Canadian college-aged males say they would commit sexual assault if they were certain of not being caught.

[...yeah.]

a phone call a day...

2007-04-08T16:02:00.000-04:00

Action: Let's Call Them On It.

Since today is Easter Sunday, people are probably not going to be in their offices-- which means it might be a good time to call parties that should be acting on this and leave them voicemail messages letting them know that you are not going to "get over it."

The Gazette
519-661-3580
- tell them exactly how you feel about this article and how you expect them to accept responsibility and be held accountable for it
- ask why, "if it's just a joke," the writer of the article continues to hide behind a pseudonym
- ask why they think they answer to no one

Equity Services
519-661-3334
- this article clearly violates human rights and sexually harasses a student
- The Gazette has a history of sexist, racist, homophobic and generally irresponsible journalism that makes campus unsafe
particularly for women and queer students. What is being done about this?

University Students' Council
519-661-3574
- tell them that this article does not represent the interests of students on campus, and tell them that you refuse to let your money fund and operate The Gazette and that you expect the USC to act on this.

Alumni Office
519-661-2199
- if you are alumni and don't want your degree to read "Rapist University" and don't want to send your children or donate money to a university that has a reputation of having a "rape culture," let them know
- The Gazette article is reflecting badly on the entire university-- this includes its community of alumni and friends-- what is being done about this?

The President
Paul Davenport (president): 519-661-3106
Lucyanne Davison (admin assistant): 519-661-3745
- The Gazette article is reflecting badly on the entire university-- this includes its community of alumni and friends-- what is being done about this?
- this article clearly violates human rights and sexually harasses a student
- The Gazette has a history of sexist, racist, homophobic and generally irresponsible journalism that makes campus unsafe
particularly for women and queer students. What is being done about this?

jenna's fuckin fierce

2007-04-07T18:15:00.000-04:00

so i don't think it would be a stretch to read the gazette shit as a response to this amazing article by jenna that was published in the grapevine (a great example of real student journalism at huron university college at UWO) last october :

http://grapevine.theorem.ca/view.php?aid=38562

the article ends with jenna stating:

I personally challenge everyone at the Gazette, and everyone who aspires to be a reputable journalist to be more responsible, and acknowledge the power you have in creating popular discourses which shape our realities and contribute to perpetuating inequalities among people by upholding stereotypes, breeding apathy by dismissing objectionable writing as just ‘jokes,’ and maintaining the invisibility of already marginalized minority groups.

as movingtargets has pointed out elsewhere, the gazette's response is:
we'll rape you an alleyway. that'll teach you a lesson.

Oh you did NOT just go there...

2007-04-06T22:56:00.000-04:00

i'm letting sistah L (movingtargets) speak right now, cuz we share a brain, and this is how i feel too:

Female student activist targetted in campus paper "spoof" story about rape

Some context:

I go to the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Our school newspaper, The Gazette, is notoriously shitty - bigoted, misogynist, racist, generally offensive... not to mention under-representative and just, with some exceptions, terrible journalism.

Several members of our campus women's group (the Women's Issues Network - WIN) have been working all year to pressure the Gazette to be more accountable and more representative. The most active of these members was a good friend of mine. Her work included volunteering with the Gazette as well as writing articles [that they never published] and general lobbying efforts and activist pressure. In general, because of this, the Gazette has a shaky relationship with WIN, and they often make fun of us in their pages.

Well, every year the Gazette publishes, on April Fool's Day, a spoof issue. This year, they went way way WAY too far.

(The don't have the article on their website - not sure if it was up and they pulled it or if it was never posted or what - but the text of the atrocious article and a scan of it as it appeared in the paper are below the cut.)

Labia Majora Carnage
by "Xavier"
Gazette Staff

Last night, local women hit the streets for the first ever Take Back the Nightie march.
The march was led by members of Western's Women's Issues Network, who, for the first time all year, left their circle in the University Community Centre, where witnesses claim they perform tribal dances and yell alienating slurs about pussies and cunts.
The march was organized because women were sick of wearing uncomfortable, soul-crushing lingerie for their boyfriends, lesbian lovers and partners whose gender aren't identifiable.
"My vagina told me she hates thongs... they're far too restrictive," said Jennifer Ostrich, a vocal WIN member. "And what my vagina wants, my vagina gets. Nighties are far more comfortable and practical. They let my vagina be free to the world so she can speak out and say whatever she wants."
Katie Conservative, another WIN member, said the march also aims to reclaim nighties from cross-dressing men who have bogarted white, crocheted, old-fashioned nighties for far too long.
"My vagina told me that for too long, men have taken things that are rightfully ours," Conservative said. "Tonight we take back nighties just like we took back hairy armpits and stilettos, even though trannies are still trying to steal them too."
Near the end of the march, chaos broke out when Ostrich's vagina crawled from under flowing white nightie, stole a loudspeaker and went on a rampage.
"How dare you act like you know what I have to say," the vagina screamed down Richmond Row.
"You don't know me, bee-otch," it squealed. "You can't even see me through all this hair you've let over-grow. Think of me. I can't even breathe down here!"
Upon seeing the chaos, London Police Chief Murray Faulkner stopped greasing his nightstick and intervened.
He grabbed the loudspeaker from Ostrich's wild vagina and took it into a dark alley to teach it a lesson.
To Ostrich's dismay, the vagina followed, giggling as it said, "I love it when a man in uniform takes control."
Women were delighted to see groups of men standing on the sidewalks in support.
"It was so great to see men supporting us in our nighties and helping us to spread vagina peace and love," Conservative said.
One man held a sign that read, "Yeah baby, I'll take back your nightie anytime!"
What the marchers couldn't see was that the men were using their penises as the beat off to the women in their long, flowing garbs.
"It takes a little imagination, but once you picture them without the nasty dreadlocks, the hideous piercings, the hairy pits and the beards, some of them are actually kinda hot," said Cocky McFratboy, while taking a break from masturbating.
The event ended when a man sent WIN into a screaming, tribal frenzy by yelling, "You want an opinion! With a push-up bra, you could actually have a nice rack of lamb going on there!"

Yep it pretty much just gets worse as you read on. I could hardly believe it was real as I was reading it. YES it's the spoof issue -- but this is blatant violence and harassment and very VERY much crosses the line.

I'm so enraged I can barely type. For the record, "Jennifer Ostrich" is extremely close to the name of my friend who was actively campaigning all year, and "Kate Conservative" is very close to the name of another visible and active member of WIN (who is also an active member of the Conservative party, hence the name). Both are clearly recognizable as themselves in tis article, and some of the words attributed to "Jennifer" are taken directly (then totally exaggerated) from articles my friend wrote but were never published.

Satire is one thing. Making fun of feminists? Sure, we've all seen that before and I'm sure that's nothing we all haven't had to endure, like the obvious slights at Take Back the Night and the Vagina Monologues. I hate it, but you VERY MUCH cross the line when you suggest that "taking someone into a dark alley to teach them a lesson" is ok and when you suggest that a woman, any woman, but especially MY FRIEND -- not to mention, an active feminist and someone who was actively and vocally criticizing the Gazette, be raped to be "taught a lesson" and that she would enjoy it. Rape is not an ok thing to suggest to teach someone a lesson or to put someone in their place, or to suggest that someone was asking for it. It's a joke? Not only is it not funny, it's violence.

On top of the violence of this, it makes me especially angry because it is clearly a move to try to silent vocal women, feminists, on campus (not to mention, to silence feminist criticisms of THEIR paper - picking out my friend as their target makes that pretty obvious), and it also works to discourage other women from joining in the fight.

(And I won't even get into the transphobia, orientalism, beauty standards etc....)

PLEASE PLEASE forward this to anyone who you think might be interested. The Gazette has gotten away with so so much all year, and in past years, but it CAN'T, MUSTN'T get away with this.

Please also take a few minutes to take action by writing to the Gazette Editor-in-Chief, Ian Van Den Hurk at gazette.editor@uwo.ca. UWO also has policies on equity and human rights that we feel this article severely violates (more info here: http://www.uwo.ca/equity/). You can email the equity services at Western at equity@uwo.ca to complain and to draw their attention to this article.

Your help in spreading the word about this disgusting article is greatly appreciated. (In short: we want the whole internets to hear about Western and it's misogynist rapist paper.) THANK YOU.

ps if you're on facebook... http://uwo.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2268028777
x-posted all over the place