Carleton students rallied in University Centre atrium at 11 a.m. Sept. 8 in response to recent photos that surfaced showing orientation week leaders wearing shirts that said “FUCK SAFE SPACE.”
Julia Allen, one of the event organizers, stood before a group of volunteers and said she wanted the rally to be open and non-confrontational.
A dozen volunteers lined the busy stairwell leading from Tory tunnels to the atrium and engaged with students about the concept of safe spaces. They informed unaware students about the problematic shirts worn by orientation leaders, who allegedly did so as “a statement against the coddling of first year students.”
One student frosh facilitator who said he was not wearing the shirt but wishes to remain anonymous, said the meaning behind it has been twisted.
“Rape is an awful crime and we would never promote such ridiculous behaviour,” he wrote to the Charlatan. “Being told that we shouldn’t swear around [first years] in no way helps to ease them into university life. They will be exposed to such language throughout the rest of the year.”
The source called the phrase “an umbrella term . . . for all things that may make a new student uncomfortable.”
Shannon Milling, a fourth-year journalism major, held up a sign that read “How dare you deface our safe space.”
She said she heard about the shirts online and was surprised the students under fire were leaders for Carleton.
“We work so hard for safe space to even be recognized as something and what that means, and you’re there saying it doesn’t even matter,” Milling said.
“It’s about everybody. [Safe space] is an open environment where everyone can be themselves and not be discriminated against. It’s not about swearing like they say, it definitely has other connotations to it,” she said.
Allen said at first she was angry when seeing the photos but was later compelled to rally some people together to start a discussion.
“I realized that obviously people are not 100 per cent sure what the term ‘safe space’ means and that’s why they made the mistake of putting that on a shirt,” she said. “When I think of safe space I’m coming from a white, female perspective. When someone says ‘fuck safe space,’ it means fuck your safety on campus.”
Allen said she doesn’t necessarily think the students who wore the shirts should be reprimanded but regardless of their intentions, enough people were offended by it that it should be addressed.
Despite receiving safe-space training as orientation facilitators, Allen said she believes their actions were a combination of ignorance and poor judgement.
The protesters moved from the atrium to the front of the University Centre in the afternoon, where they distributed flyers with the hashtag “#embracesafespace.”
The Rideau River Residence Association supported the rally with use of a photocopier, and Vice-President Graham Pedregosa attended the rally, according to Allen.
Following Carleton’s own investigation, university president Roseann Runte issued a statement Sept. 8 saying the university would issue sanctions after further meetings with those students involved.
Carleton concluded that some of the students wearing the offending shirts were frosh leaders, but that “the inappropriate action did not undermine the overall effectiveness of Carleton’s Orientation programming.”
Runte stated that the event took place after the conclusion of orientation week and was not sanctioned by the university.
“Such behaviour is not acceptable and extremely disappointing to the broader Carleton community,” Runte said. “Those involved have indicated that they will issue a sincere public apology and work with the university to ensure that such behaviour does not occur again in the future.”
—files from Sammy Hudes
