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How Universities Shut Down Discussion Of Sexual Violence On Campus
The University of Toronto’s shameful handling of an awareness campaign tells you everything about how schools handle assault reports.
I n the early morning of March 16, 2017, students at the University of Toronto woke up to a campus blanketed with black and white posters. Each sheet of paper featured, in bold serif font, one of 50 quotes from a different survivor of sexual assault, violence, or harassment. The quotes described the survivors’ struggles trying to report their experience to the school.
“The sexual harassment office said they couldn’t take my report seriously because I’m a sex worker.”
“When my professor sexually assaulted me, the administration assigned him to a new department.”
“My rapist was fired from his Student Life position following the attack. He was rehired to a different division of Student Life shortly after.”
“My crisis counsellor won’t respond to my emails.”
“When I asked the University why they’d rehired my rapist…after finding him responsible they said, ‘As far as we’re concerned the case is closed.’”