issues & ideas wrorpwweervnam THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2012 7 Sexual assaults spark discussion Due to a number of sex assualts at the UBC campus students are wanting some change Few resources for dealing with assault Recent attacks at UBC and elsewhere in Vancouver have highlighted the need for post-assault services By GLEN TRUAX esources for Langara women and men dealing with sexual abuse are limited in supply. Outreach projects such as the multicultural forum MOSAIC and more standard outlets such as Langara’s counselling department exist, but more needs to be done to meet students’ needs, said Indira-Natasha Prahst, chair of the sociology program at Lan- gara and major contributor to the MO- SAIC project. “We're just now identifying service gaps,”Prahst said. The need for resources has been highlighted by the recent sexual as- saults at UBC, following the alleged “rape chant” that took place during Frosh Week. As Langara is one of the transfer schools for UBC, this has caused alarm at the college. “We can’t isolate ourselves from UBC,” said Prahst. “There is a major college exchange between Langara and UBC. We have siblings and family members there.” Resources for students consist of the counselling department’s services, as well as off-campus non-government or- ganizations like Women Against Vio- lence Against Women. Physical and psychological treat- ment is available at Vancouver General Hospital, but it is the only hospital in Vancouver that offers any kind of coun- selling and support for sexual assault survivors. “Crisis centers are important for women who don’t want go to the hospi- tal or police,” said Patricia Moore, head of Women’s Studies at Langara. “But there’s a lack of free counselling throughout the city.” According to Statistics Canada, only one out of 10 survivors reports their in- cidents to police, highlighting the need for outside agencies. Women Against Violence Against Women is badly underfunded and un- derstaffed, said Irene Tsepnopoulos- RA PE VIOLENCE NeT Elhaimer, a counsellor at the center. “We have no operational funding,” said Tsepnopolous-Elhaimer. “We have a waitlist of 100 women and we’ve had a waitlist for years.” Most contacts agreed that the prob- lem is societal. “There is a context of nopoulos-Elhaimer said. to solve the problem,” said Moore. ling is not a concern. still important to spread awareness.” PATRICIA MOORE Head of Langara- Women’s Studies 66 violence against women, beyond pa- Crisis thology. There is a rape culture,” Tsep- centers are “Counselling is important but if we important only focus on services, we’re not going for women Some students feel that their needs pho don’t are met by security and that counsel- want to “It’s a small campus and security is go to the everywhere,” sai inah Salih. “It’s h ° ospital or police March against violence More than a hundred people gathered to speak out at open mic event A roundtable discussion at UBC featuring five panelists allowed discussion of rape culture and prevention education By TRICIA LO new but the current “culture of fear” has created space to talk about that uncomfortable reality, said panelists at the UBC Roundtable Dis- cussion on Oct. 24. More than 150 people gathered at the panel discussion on Thursday to talk about the recent reports of sexual as- sault, as well as the rape and anti-Na- tive chants at UBC. The discussion aimed to provide context for the events and identify steps to move forward. “The [assaults] that have been re- Ss violence at UBC is nothing ported are highlighting this opportuni- ty to discuss rape culture and preven- tion education,” said panelist Anisa Mottahed, a UBC and Langara gradu- ate representing the UBC Sexual As- sault Support Centre. “A lot of sexual assaults are taking place that we’re just not hearing about,” said Mottahed. “But living in this culture of fear is inviting us to have that conversation about reclaiming safety.” The event featured a five-member panel of faculty, staff and students from diverse academic disciplines as well as the First Nations and lesbian, gay, bi- sexual, transgender and queer commu- FACEBOOK image An image from the Take Back the Night UBC Facebook page highlights the rape problem. UBC students march and speak out against violence on Wednesday to spark conversation on campus By ANDREA ANTHONY saults at UBC, two UBC students or- ganized a campus march against vio- lence against women on Oct. 30. “Take Back the Night is a march to reclaim women’s autonomy and safety in society,” said Emily Monaghan, a first-year environmental science and sustainability student at UBC and coor- dinator of the event. Take Back the Night involved people speaking out against violence against women while marching around UBC. Monaghan hoped the event would spark future discussions. “One of our objectives is to have dia- logues about rape culture in the class- rooms, because this is an institution where this isn’t prevailing,” said Monaghan. The second coordinator of Take Back the Night, Rain, a fourth-year women and gender studies and sociol- ogy student at UBC, added that educa- tion about rape culture is important. “We're [at UBC] to be educated, but we don’t really believe that people are being properly educated here.” Take Back the Night targeted people who have been socialized and desig- nated as women, explained Rain. “It’s more about how you are identi- I: response to the recent sexual as- fied rather than how you personally identify,” said Rain. Monaghan and Rain said men com- mit the majority of sexual assaults. However, on Take Back the Night UBC’s Facebook page, Sarah Man- shreck wrote, “I want to... eliminate connecting the recent rape cases at UBC to the male gender.” After another sex-assault this week- end, police have concluded the string of six assaults are the work of the same man. The man has not been identified but police are looking for anyone with tips about the suspect. Monaghan said too much focus is be- ing put on women. “The RCMP really focus on women and how women need to protect them- selves, and there’s the notion of ‘don’t get raped’... but we need to switch that around and educate the public about not raping,” said Monaghan. UBC student Aleksander Arsovski disagrees with this. “Td like to believe that at some point in time every human will be able to go anywhere safely, but at present that isn’t true, and safety precautions should not be viewed as shifting the blame to victims,” wrote Arsovski on Take Back the Night UBC’s Facebook page. Monaghan said, “I feel more unsafe when I’m in classrooms . . . around he- gemonic masculinity all day rather than when I’m walking alone, because I know [that] affect[s] me more than at- tackers who happen once in a while,” said Monaghan. 66 A lot of nities. After an hour of moderated panel discussion, the floor was opened to direct questions and comments from the audience. Individuals used an open mic to share their experiences of unreported sexual assault on the UBC campus. In speaking up, attendees asked what could be done to prevent history from repeating itself. “This could become something posi- tive,” said panelist Madison Slobin, a student representing Pride UBC. “In these past few weeks, I’ve seen more people talk about the idea of rape culture and consent than I have ever ([before],” Slobin said. “Already, we have so many different groups of peo- ple that are willing to work together... to make a change on campus in a way that I haven’t seen.” The organizers said much remains to be done but hoped more community discussion would follow. While education and awareness are important, sexual violence has com- plex political, social and legal aspects that require concrete action, said Lynn Carter, a Langara instructor in the so- cial service worker department. “Tf the awareness of what is going on at UBC causes [us to reflect] about our own safety on our own college campus, that’s not a bad thing,” said Carter. sexual assaults are taking place that we’re just not hear- ing about ANISA MOTTAHED