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What is going on at Western?????

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

This is an article found in today's TORONTO STAR. It's written by Louise Brown, Education Reporter and Jennifer O'Meara, Special to the Star. There have also been articles in The Globe and Mail as well as the London Free Press.

I have friends who are involved in Women's Issues at Western and I fully support their efforts. Please read the following article to have an understanding of what is happening on campus in our city.

Thank you,

Andrea

Spoof of campus feminist 'appalling'

Just 18 months after a first-year student's striptease posted on the Internet thrust the University of Western Ontario into the spotlight, the campus has found itself in raunchy waters once more. Western's student newspaper has drawn fire for a recent spoof article ridiculing a prominent campus feminist by portraying her vagina giggling as London's police chief takes her into a dark alley to "teach her a lesson" with his nightstick.

The article in The Gazette takes thinly veiled shots at student activist Jenna Owsianik, a member of a group called the Miss G Project, which recently received $70,000 from Queen's Park to promote awareness of women's rights and help design a new women's studies course for Ontario's high schools.

But the Gazette article has sparked a wave of outrage among students, been condemned as "appalling" by university brass and been slammed by Police Chief Murray Faulkner for "making light of a serious social issue." "I'm not upset about being satirized, but I've spent my career and the police here work hard fighting sexual assault."

The article raises questions about just how far campus newspapers should go when making fun of student issues. Some also say it raises alarm bells about the climate of equality on the ivy-draped campus. "This doesn't happen at other universities and it wouldn't," said Owsianik, a third-year major in women's studies and French. "There's something about this Western climate."

Campus women's groups are demanding a retraction of the article, but editor-in-chief Ian Van Den Hurk has said the Gazette never intended to "normalize rape or sexual assault." He said spoof issues are "tough to print without offending someone."

But given its graphic references, the university is considering what measures should be taken as a result, said Gitta Kulczycki, vice-president of resources and operations. "That our student-owned newspaper could publish something like that is disappointing," said Kulczycki. "Western is a very welcoming, diverse, inclusive community. I would not want people to judge Western on what was published."

"To use the image of rape to `teach a woman a lesson' is not funny; it's a violent, personal attack that has no business in a student publication,' said Western student Laurel Mitchell, a fellow member of the Miss G Project.

Click here for the MISS G PROJECT Website

Click here for THE GAZETTE Website