Demonstrators involved with the Not Our Policy campaign were confronted on Feb. 16 by campus safety officers while attempting to put a banner over the Carleton University sign on Bronson Avenue.
One of the students involved with the campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the three students were approached by two campus safety special constables while hanging the sign.
“They basically came and they asked for our info, they said they needed to identify the people doing it, they took down our names, numbers, addresses and student numbers,” the student said.
According to the campaigner, the special constables said they were violating mischief and vandalism laws and could be charged criminally.
Not Our Policy is a campaign to reform Carleton’s recently implemented sexual violence policy, according to the group’s Facebook page. Since the beginning of February, students involved with the campaign have been hanging large red banners reading “Not our sexual violence policy” over top of the Carleton sign at the corner of Bronson Avenue and Sunnyside Avenue.
Brian Billings, assistant director of the Department of University Safety, said sanctions could be taken against the students involved with the Not Our Policy campaign under the Student Rights and Responsibilities Policy.
“There’s a university policy with respect to posting on campus and that policy does not permit the posting of banners on university premises without seeking permission,” he said. “[The banner drops] have been going on for the past two weeks and certainly it’s not an authorized activity that they’re doing”
The Not Our Policy campaigner said the special constables who confronted them alluded that criminal charges were possible. But Billings said the matter was being dealt with under the Student Rights and Responsibilities Policy.
He added he was not aware of any current sanctions being taken against the protestors, but they could be enforced through that policy.
Under the Student Rights and Responsibilities Policy, defacing university property is considered a Category 1 offence. Sanctions listed in the policy include a fine, community service hours, or expulsion from the university if it is a Category 2 offence and it is serious enough.
The campaigner said despite being stopped by University Safety, they are still confident in the message of Not Our Policy.
“We really believe in the vision of it,” they said. “The banner drops have been increasing awareness around it and more students are seeing it and asking like ‘What is this about?’ and getting interested in the topic.”
The Not Our Policy campaign currently has a rally planned for March 2 to protest the actions taken against them.
– Photo by Trevor Swann
