It’s shocking to hear that despite the recent sexual assaults happened right here on campus and the ongoing problem with rape culture, some frosh leaders felt that it was okay to make and wear “Fuck Safe Space” t-shirts two days after their frosh contract ended.
Several frosh leaders, facilitators, and organizers provided comments about the shirts.
One facilitator said the meaning behind the shirts had been twisted, and students were wearing the shirts in protest of a clause in their orientation contract that prohibits swearing.
The facilitator, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “the shirts were merely a statement against the coddling of first year students.”
While it is important to note these students have issued a public apology for the shirts, that doesn’t do anything to diminish their impact.
By wearing these shirts out in public, where many people may not be aware of what safe space means, these shirts can make people uncomfortable and confused.
Without any context, it was difficult to understand what the reasoning behind the shirts was. Were they protesting? Celebrating? In any case, wearing a shirt which discourages a safe environment is problematic.
If the people that wore these shirts had a problem with safe space to begin with, they shouldn’t have signed the contract and taken on the responsibilities of frosh facilitators. Wearing these shirts is a passive aggressive way of saying, “screw it” to the contract they had signed.
Not to mention the message that these shirts sent to the frosh students who just ended a week of frosh activities lead by responsible and respectful frosh facilitators.
What are first-year students supposed to think if they see one of their leaders with a t-shirt that says “Fuck Safe Space” when safe space is a policy they were complying with for the entire duration of frosh week?
Clearly, the idea behind the shirts stemmed from ignorance, and it’s definitely not the first time a Canadian university has had events like these happen. Saint Mary’s University students got into trouble last year when they promoted non-consensual sex in a chant at their orientation week.
Members of the University of Ottawa (U of O) men’s hockey team were involved in a high profile sexual assault scandal early this year.
However, there is one upside to these unfortunate events.
The Saint Mary’s chant sparked 20 new recommendations aimed at preventing sexual violence and the student president admitted it was the biggest mistake he has made in his university career. U of O had the whole hockey team suspended, and two students were charged with sexual assault. Carleton banned a student just last week from campus after he was charged with sexually harassing three different women.
The reactions these events are getting are notable, especially compared to similar cases that happened in the U.S.
For example, a Columbia University student says she was raped two years ago and her rapist remains on campus today, unprosecuted, while she carries a mattress around as an art project to raise awareness.
In Ohio, one of the Steubenville rapists is allowed to return to his high school football team despite being a registered sex offender.
Thankfully, those involved with the “Fuck Safe Space” shirts issued what seems to be a sincere public apology.
While this whole thing could have so easily been avoided had they had better judgment and a greater awareness about the problem of rape culture, these students are capable of seeing the faults in their actions and have hopefully made the first step to making things right.
