This isn't the first time I, along with many others, hoped that York University turns Kohli's words into actions. The university is being scrutinized once again for their lack of warning and communications about the sexual assaults that repeated occur on and off-campus to the female students. Most recent case was this past Friday when Faizan Ali, 30, and not a York Student entered a room in the residence and assaulted two women.
York University seems to hide the cases of sexual assault regardless of the risks it poses on the students. Rape and sexual assault is a gender-based crime. Although there are cases of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape against men by women, a vast majority of these cases involves women as the victims and men as the perpetrators. The silence of York U and the lack of measures taken to ensure security on and off campus at all times perpetuates and maintains the invisibility of gender-based crimes.
The university has apparently increased their security budget within the last year by $500,000. This is obviously either not enough of an increase, or the increase is not being utilized properly. In the past year, even with the increase, there have been 5 cases which we know of, consisting of sexual assaults and murder. York U is also planning on increasing the security budget again within the next year by 40%. Where did the $500,000 go to? On residence, security monitors the main doors from 7pm-1am. Did we forget the clock doesn't stop at an hour past midnight? Maybe the 40% increase in the next year covers monitoring from 1am-7am. Who knows.
What is the point of a budget increase if the students don't know the severity and the frequency of the cases?
It's evident that the University is hoping to save face by not addressing the issue properly in order to maintain their reputation as a great institution, as they have had repeated cases of the crime on and off-campus. The Toronto Star reports that the students said the York University officials told the students NOT to address the media regarding this issue. WHAT?
And of course the University Official have no recollection of such instructions.
If I were a parent, I would not only be nervous of the sexual assaults, but concerned that the University isn't addressing it.
Rape and sexual assault has, historically and to this day, been a punishment for women for being assertive, to bruise their partner's egos and boost the perpetrators' egos, to "remind" women of their "place" and for women for just being women. The power dynamic between the two genders is embedded in this crime.
We also knows that sexual assault and rape (not just at schools but everywhere) are underreported due to stigma, embarrassment, trauma etc., and a school that hides this crime is sure to have more cases underreported. So the cases you have heard of and the ones reported in the paper (and not by York U) are only the cases that have been reported.
The budget increases sounds like a bunch of bullshit. The proper solutions are not be thought through by the University and it seems they are just half-assing the whole thing.
Students are apparently notified via bulletins and emails, but really? That's what we're doing?
"Hey, let me check my YorkU email just in case there was a sexual assault on campus or in the vicinity of my sexual-assault-perpetrator-attracting-school"...
Mm... Ya ok.
No comments:
Post a Comment