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exeposé
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ISSUE 730 1 MAR 2022 exepose.com @Exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
Students call out Erase the Grey campaign for “triggering” and “unclear” messages
Bridie Adams and Cassia Grace Editor and Deputy Editor
Storm Eunice causes disruption in Exeter Page 3
Bioscience students let down by Uni Page 8
THIS PAGE CONTAINS CONTENT SOME READERS MAY FIND DISTRESSING
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TUDENTS have expressed concern over the University of Exeter’s use of the Erase the Grey campaign, originally set up by Glasgow Caledonian University. Exeter students told Exeposé that the posters are “triggering” and “spread the wrong message,” accusing the campaign of “performative activism.” The campaign features a series of posters distributed around campus and social media. It encourages students to “Erase the grey” words printed on the posters to reveal statements about the realities of “intimate partner violence and abuse.” However, many students have stated that they found the messages and the design of the posters to be confusing and misleading. “For something someone only glances at, it’s not clear,” said one student, whilst another explained how they had misconstrued the posters to be
Image: Lucy Aylmer
about another topic entirely: “They’re a bit s***. Every time I read them, I didn’t understand them. Initially I thought they were pro-abuse; I also thought they were about drink-driving for a bit.” Some have also suggested that the campaign is not “useful,” with one student raising the question, “In reality, what are these posters actually doing?” In reference to a poster that, after ‘erasing the gray,’ reads “Groping is sexual
assault,” another student said, “we all know groping is sexual assault,” and described the posters as ineffective. This student went on to state, “I don’t like this narrative that sexual assault only comes from misinformation. People who grope girls know that groping is assault, and I f***ing know if I’ve been raped or assaulted. Telling me what’s happened isn’t going to stop it from happening.” However, a different student high-
lighted the necessity of “catching the attention of people who may assault or exhibit problematic behaviour and aren’t quite aware of how dangerous their behaviour is,” emphasising the importance of educating students about abuse. Several society Presidents have openly criticised the campaign for a lack of clear message. Continued on page 4.
Exeter Students For Life sparks controversy with speaker event Go Green Week: facts and figures Throughout Images (top to bottom): Chris Andrew, Geograph, Kawishka Chathurya
Supported by the:
Livvy Mason-Myhill News Editor
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N Wednesday 23 February, Exeter Students for Life society hosted a talk by Peter Williams, a prominent speaker and campaigner for Right to Life. Williams discussed issues of abortion, Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (EAS), before taking questions from students in attendance. Among the attendees was a group of pro-choice students, from societies including Pro-Choice society, Sit Down
N Shut Up and Period Poverty, whose aim was to “sit in the talk, be peaceful, be civil and ask intelligent questions.” Williams began the talk by suggesting the importance of morality, choice, and autonomy, as well as emphasising what he perceives as good and evil. He argued that “through our will we can choose to pursue certain goods,” that as humans we have natural faculties and should follow the ideas surrounding natural law. During his initial speech on his views on ethics, he mentioned that “if we have a duty to flourish, everyone has the duty not to harm us,” thus entailing the idea that a right to life is a “concrete fundamental right.” Williams established that he disagrees with EAS as it undermines his
views around autonomy. He chose to refer to Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act which allows for terminally ill people from Oregon to end their lives through voluntarily taking self-administered prescriptions of lethal medications. With this reference, Williams explained that EAS was not justifiable and that “feeling like a burden is not a reasonable reason for autonomy.”. He went on to say that he believes there is a correlation between assisted suicides and suicides, in his opinion adding to “suicide contagion.” The speaker also made claims about patient instrumentalization, stating that “vulnerable people being euthanised were being exploited and used for organ donation.” Regarding both EAS and aborti-
on, Williams stated that “both are contrary to the natural right to life and the Common Good” and that “broader human values should inform our laws, and our moral standards as a society.” Regarding abortion, he established that “unborn children are indeed human beings” and emphasised that he believes human life begins with conception, the making of “a genetically instinct being.” He quoted Baroness Warnock, “only a fool would deny that human life begins at the point of conception,” to support his argument. He presented his audience with diagrams of the different processes of abortion during different stages of pregnancy.
Continued on page 4.