The University of Ottawa (U of O) announced it would create a task force on respect and equality in response to recent allegations of sexual assault, as well as online comments over which several student federation members resigned.
The task force, announced by university president Allan Rock and chancellor Michaëlle Jean March 6, aims to find “ways to promote respectful behaviour on campus, particularly towards women,” according to a press release.
The announcement comes after an allegation of sexual assault by members of the university’s men’s hockey team on a road trip to Thunder Bay, which led to the team’s suspension March 3. The university had not stated what incident led to the suspension.
Another incident involved the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s president Anne-Marie Roy. Four student representatives resigned after a sexually violent conversation about Roy, written by the members, was leaked online.
Rock said both incidents were important reasons for the creation of the task force.
“Both incidents raised troubling questions about attitude and about behaviour,” Rock said. “Both call out for a response from the university community that aspires to be a place of respectful behaviour and reasoned dialogue.”
Jean said it is important to have a “zero-tolerance policy” on not only violence against women, but also attitudes reflected in joking about violence against women.
“What we were reminded of this week is the pervasiveness of misogyny, of women-hating, of words and attitudes that contribute to gendered and sexual violence . . . such incidents are the tip of a systemic iceberg,” she said.
Reporters questioned the decision to wait until March 3 to go public with the alleged assault.
The university told the Ottawa Citizen they were asked to wait by Thunder Bay police. The police however, told the Citizen that the decision was made by the university.
At the press conference, Rock maintained that the university had been asked to wait by the police, and said he had emails to prove this if necessary. In addition to the task force, the university is also reviewing the incident internally.
Rock said the students involved in the online comments about Roy would not be disciplined academically at Roy’s request.
“I asked [Roy] what she thought should happen, and she was very strong in saying personally and the federation believe there should be no academic sanction, that there should be a separation between non-academic conduct and academic sanction,” Rock said.
The university’s task force will report back with recommendations by fall 2014, Rock said.
Dillon Black, a fourth-year social work student at Carleton University, said the task force is a positive sign of admitting change is needed.
Black started a Facebook group for Carleton students to show solidarity with U of O. Black said rape culture needs to be addressed especially at universities and colleges.
“Of course it’s about respect and equality, but it’s also about the issue of pervasive rape culture and that kind of gets lost in there somewhere, so hopefully the administration can find a way to incorporate the issues affecting students in a meaningful way,” Black said via e-mail.
The Facebook group, beyond being a way to show support to U of O students, is a way of raising awareness about rape culture at Carleton, according to Black.
“You see it happening a lot at Carleton,” Black said. “You see women being harassed a lot, you see people joking about rape, not realizing they’re trivializing the issue.”
U of O students announced their own task force called the Independent Initiative Against Rape Culture March 11. The group lists several recommendations on its website, including mandatory training about discrimination and sexual harassment for all members of the university.
