The University of British Columbia (UBC) administration has pulled support for frosh events run by the school’s commerce society after the student group came under fire for chants that promoted non-consensual sex with minors.
“What is reported to have happened at frosh this year is deeply upsetting and is completely inconsistent with the values of the school and UBC,” Robert Helsley, the dean of UBC’s Saunders School of Business, said in a statement Sept. 9.
The university’s chant came to public attention when a first-year business student tweeted the chant under the handle @_Emmski.
“Y-O-U-N-G at UBC we like em young U is for yourrr sister O is for ohh so tight U is for under age N is for noo consent G is for goo to jail,” she tweeted. “An actual cheer at UBC.”
The university said it will also be launching an investigation into the situation.
UBC chant mirrors Saint Mary’s anti-consent cheer
The announcement comes just days after the student union president at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax apologized and resigned after a video was posted on Instagram showing frosh leaders shouting a similar chant.
In the video, frosh leaders use a similar chant that includes “N is for no consent” and ends with, “Saint Mary’s boys, we like them young.”
Jared Perry stepped down as president of the Saint Mary’s University Students’ Association after “deep reflection.”
“My stepping down allows the association and its leaders to focus exclusively on the work of re-mediating the damage earlier this week to the reputation of the association and Saint Mary’s university,” he said in the statement.
The student union vice-president (student life) Carrigan Desjardins, who was responsible for frosh programming, also resigned.
Perry said he plans to run for re-election.
University president Colin Dodds released a statement saying the university administration is partially to blame for what happened.
“My colleagues and I were shocked by this incident and are deeply sorry that our students, and now the community at large, were exposed to disturbing sexually charged material,” Dodds said.
“The university regrets that this was allowed to occur and we apologize unreservedly. I am taking measures to ensure it does not happen in the future.”
Dodds added that he and the university administration “have a role to oversee and guide student leaders.”
“We failed in that responsibility,” he said.
Emily Martin, a third-year student at Saint Mary’s, said she saw many of this year’s frosh week events take place and was not happy with the president’s “vague” response to the cheer.
“I know the president released a newsletter saying he was sorry for this material and it won’t happen again. He’s saying that yes, [the chant] is sexually charged. But [the chant] is also about violence against women,” Martin said.
More than just a cheer
Outrage over the cheer at Saint Mary’s comes after the death of teenager Rehtaeh Parsons, a 17-year-old Nova Scotia teen who died as a result of a suicide attempt in April.
Parsons was allegedly gang raped 17 months prior and had photos of her posted on Internet.
Martin said she was disgusted that such a chant would be uttered so soon after Parsons’ story made the news.
“Especially for Halifax, coming off the whole Rehtaeh Parsons case, I was like, really is that we’re choosing to chant about? It boggles my mind that no one saw the inappropriateness of this,” Martin said.
Martin said it was important to not just focus on Saint Mary’s or UBC, but to have a discussion about how chants like these are happening at schools all across North America.
“I’m sure the people who are chanting it aren’t violent people. They aren’t rapists,” Martin said.
“But it’s so insensitive [toward the issue of] violence against women.”
