WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT
This story contains details viewers may find disturbing. Those in need of support can call the Ottawa Distress Centre Crisis Line at 613-238-3311 or the Carleton Sexual Assault Support Centre at 613-520-5622.
Carleton University’s sexual violence policy demonstrates a concerning lack of compassion and the absence of a significant sexual violence prevention tool: education. Carleton is just one of the Ontario universities that needs to take a more aggressive approach to sexual violence (SV) prevention and awareness on campus.
Over the weekend of Sept. 11, a police investigation was launched at Western University following online reports that up to 30 female students were drugged and multiple sexual assaults took place in a campus residence. Three formal reports have been filed so far. This atrocious incident occurred at Western, but the reality is that this could have happened anywhere.
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On Sept. 20, a call-to-action I co-authored with Anthony Valenti, second-year bachelor of global and international studies (BGInS) student, was circulated via email to key actors in our school, including Equity and Inclusive Communities, the Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC), Housing and Residence Life Services, Health and Counselling Services, Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA).
Highlights of the call-to-action include statistics primarily sourced from the Government of Ontario and the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario that show first-year students who live on residence are most likely to experience SV on campus. The call also includes recommendations for action constructed by Anthony and myself intended to improve SV prevention practices at Carleton.
Upon evaluating Carleton’s Sexual Violence Policy and Carleton’s SV support websites, we noticed the University fails to live up to the standards it sets for itself. Thus, the call proposes a series of actions such as conducting a comprehensive demographic data collection for reports of sexual violence, increased SV awareness training for staff and the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy.
For context, the annual SV reports that are published by the Office of the Vice-President only reflect the data of students who disclosed an incident to a campus resource. These statistics cannot not provide an accurate demonstration of the reality of the crisis, as the Canadian Department of Justice estimates 83 per cent of assaults go unreported. A zero-tolerance policy would mandate the enforcement of predetermined immediate consequences on perpetrators following an official report.
Ultimately, the purpose of this letter is to emphasize urgency and demonstrate how feasible these changes are. Of dozens of survivors I have spoken to, many said upon seeking resources from the university or attempting to report their assaulter, they were met with little urgency.
One survivor was informed that if the sexual assault did not take place on campus, there was nothing the university could do. This response is ludicrous because, as Carleton University’s Sexual Violence Policy states, the “Policy applies to all members of the University community… on or off campus.”
Another survivor was told that since COVID-19 makes the population on campus scarce, the survivor should ‘just avoid [their assaulter]’ while they are on campus. This is an unacceptable response and places other students at risk by knowingly allowing a perpetrator of SV to remain on campus unpunished.
While it is clear that support for survivors needs improvement, further concern stems from the realization that campus leaders, including the Office of the Vice-President among the other recipients of the call-to-action, do not put enough effort into prevention practices that will mitigate sexual assault from occurring in the first place.
A 2018 survey conducted by the Government of Ontario on the topic of [Post-Secondary] Student Voices on Sexual Violence revealed of about 5,000 students who responded, 67 per cent had experienced sexual assault. About 3,350 students experienced sexual violence, yet, Carleton University’s 2018 Annual Report on Sexual Violence showed only 168 made an informal disclosure. Of that, 38 incidents took place on campus. The report also states that no consent education took place that year.
The university already offers some great resources, however, there is one essential step in the prevention process that the university overlooks: education.
Education is potentially one of the greatest and most fundamental tools in mitigating sexual assault on campus. Preconceived mentalities contributing to sexual violence need to be actively challenged and deconstructed, and education on campus is the best place to start.
The only time sexual assault awareness and prevention programs are mandatory for students (apart from student employees) is during fall orientation week. This is problematic for two reasons: first, not all first-years participate in fall orientation, and second, for those who do participate, it is easy to skip these sessions, especially since fall orientation has been taking place online to accommodate the pandemic. In this instance, when sexual violence is discussed, it often involves showing the infamous “Cycling Through Consent” video (which was ironically created by Western University) and little more.
CUSA does facilitate an educative initiative, their annual beFOREPLAYask campaign, a week of events that is geared towards safer sex, sex positivity, and most importantly, SV awareness. While the message behind the campaign has good intentions, SV is a serious topic, and the campaign’s posters which are covered in eggplant and peach emojis are cause to critique its legitimacy. Sex toy bingo and drag queens are a lighthearted way to talk about consent, but there needs to be more critical discussion.
Education needs to go further than simply reminding students to seek consent prior to engaging in a sexual encounter; there needs to be a serious discussion about how rape culture facilitates SV, what the physical and psychological repercussions are for survivors and what the criminal punishment could be for perpetrators. This year, CUSA hosted Bystander Intervention Training and the SASC hosted an initiative called #ThingsJustGotWeird, but neither of these events taught students about the fundamental causes of SV.
Students also must be educated on what resources are available to them. The Student Voices on Sexual Violence survey revealed that less than one quarter of students at Carleton confidently knew where to go to access campus resources regarding sexual harassment and violence. This is unacceptable since Carleton University, like all post-secondary institutions, has a responsibility to provide sexual assault support services and ensure students are knowledgeable on how to access them.
A robust education program is essential. This program should be mandatory for all students living on campus and must be confirmed completed prior to their arrival on campus, as studies show education encourages personal and peer advocacy that will contribute to dismantling internalized rape culture and prevent assaults from taking place.
Housing and Residence LifeServices indicated in a meeting between myself, Anthony and other campus services on Sept. 23, that it is committed to implementing a course of action to improve sexual assault resources and are open to implementing a new education program within residence. Updates can be expected from them in the near future, but a timeline has not been provided yet.
This call-to-action and the discussion that followed from Housing and Residence Life Services in the meeting were only the first steps in implementing change, but they are steps in the right direction. This call-to-action only focuses on improving sexual assault prevention on campus, but more work will need to be done in the future to help mitigate sexual assaults that take place off-campus too.
Until then, we must continue to advocate for improved education and ensure Carleton is doing everything within its power to protect students from sexual violence. With increased education and compassion, we as a community can help prevent a tragedy like the incident we saw at Western from happening again.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
