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The Boomerang | Summer 2022
Blackout Summer 2022
Impunity in Plain Sight by Anonymous TW: sexual assault on campus
kids should face if they scribble on their classmate’s arm with a sharpie. These are consequences for someone who has committed a mistake. What were you all saying after the election GA again? Sexual assault is not a mistake. It is a crime, and it’s time we start treating it as such.
assaulted, you will feel as helpless as you do now. Infringing on someone’s safety for another’s unconsented pleasure is not something we are supposed to know how to GHDO ZLWK 1RW DW QRW DW QRW DW
The importance of kicking an aggressor out of associations they are in does not only come from the need to punish them for what they have done, but also from that of makAfter talking to the people associated with ing it extremely clear that this is unacceptWKLV JLUO ZKR RYHU ER\V KDYH DFFXVHG RI able. It is paramount that everyone knows physical and verbal harassment and/or sex- that if you choose to commit crimes, vioual assault, I want to address some of the jus- late others’ safety, harass, or assault other WL¿FDWLRQV JLYHQ IRU WKH ODFN RI FRQVHTXHQFHV SHRSOH \RX ZLOO VX̆HU UHDO YLVLEOH QRWDEOH consequences. Treating her normally and 7KH ¿UVW DQG PRVW FRPPRQ UHVSRQVH LV ³VKH allowing her to continue in the same social did have consequences, you just don’t know setting creates the following impression: about them.” It is comprehensible that the “if you’re our friend and you do something ¿UVW VWHS WDNHQ E\ RQH RI WKH DVVRFLDWLRQV like this, don’t worry! You might have to say of which this perpetrator is a member was sorry, skip a few events, and maybe even to reach out to UCU’s sexual misconduct go as far as learning what assault is, but contact person. In my understanding, they we’re not gonna kick you out! You’re one were told that kicking her out of the asso- of us and we will be your support system!” ciation would not solve anything, thus deciding not to. With the belief that the girl This is how you perpetuate a problem: by had acknowledged what she did wrong being there for people who have commit(ironic that the self-awareness wasn’t pres- ted acts you claim to be appalled by, yet not ent at the GA) and was working to improve, DSSDOOHG HQRXJK WR ULVN DQ\WKLQJ WR ¿JKW all parties seem to have agreed on the suc- them. If you don’t care about it enough to cess of the process. But a question remains: PDNH VDFUL¿FHV \RX GRQ¶W FDUH DERXW LW DW DOO was that enough? Here is my opinion: 7KH ODVW MXVWL¿FDWLRQ LV ³ZH¶UH RQO\ \HDU Apologizing to a few of her victims is not olds. We don’t know how to deal with someenough. Explaining herself to the asso- thing this serious.” Well, here’s a discomciations she’s in is not enough. Having a forting fact: it doesn’t get easier with age. couple of meetings with an adult to learn ,I ZKHQ \RX¶UH \HDUV ROG \RXU FKLOG about boundaries is not enough. These comes up to you and tells you they’ve been are consequences that elementary school
It’s not fair that someone who has assaulted numerous people on this campus gets to have positions of authority within it. It’s not fair that jokes about harassment are being made in public events as if this was VRPHWKLQJ WR ODXJK R̆ ,W¶V QRW IDLU WKDW WKH boys who she violated have to see her being treated normally by people who know what happened. It’s not fair that other victims of sexual assault feel unsafe knowing that perpetrators are supported by their communities. It’s not fair that future aggressors will think that it is okay to commit such acts without fear of punishment. It’s not fair that so many of her victims will watch her receive a diploma and a round of applause and leave this campus intact while they will forever EHDU WKH VFDUV WKDW VKH LQÀLFWHG XSRQ WKHP
Disclaimer: all names have been omitted, and the article has been fact checked by the association concerned. A few weeks ago, hundreds of us watched the UCSA election GA in which a chair candidate made a wrongful claim that clasVL¿HG VH[XDO PLVFRQGXFW DV D SRWHQWLDO mistake. While the eyes of the audience were turned towards the stage, awaiting what would be said next by a guy who had just, in simple terms, fucked up his whole campaign, I was still processing someone else’s words. Was I the only one in utter shock that, in the middle of a conversation about sexual assault, one of the people with the most allegations to her name had the guts to stand up and ask a question about the culture that she contributed to? I know a lot of you know exactly who I’m talking about, which proves my point. The problem, however, is much larger than an individual perpetrator: the problem is the people who serve as her support system and the culture that allows her to walk away unscathed.
I don’t think 20-year-olds who have NOT committed sexual assault should have to deal with its aftermath. Thus, the answer is "If you don’t care about it enough to PDNH VDFUL¿FHV \RX GRQ¶W FDUH DERXW LW to disassociate yourself from the aggressor. If anything, she deserves to go through all at all" the consequences of the crimes she chose to 1H[W ³QRQH RI WKH ER\V ṘFLDOO\ UHSRUWHG commit on her own. But keep in mind that her, so we would be exposing them if we doing (essentially) nothing is the same as kicked her out.” Last year, UCU saw what giving them a green light to go on. I get it, a KDSSHQV WR DEXVHUV ZKR DUH ³ṘFLDOO\´ UH- bunch of kids are not equipped to handle sitported: nothing. Why would these boys say uations as tough as this one, and it’s not fair anything if they have nothing to gain and for us to have to make such consequential VR PXFK WR ORVH" 2̇FLDO VDQFWLRQV DUH DV decisions, but you know what else isn’t fair? important as they are rare in cases of sex"Infringing on someone’s safety for ual misconduct. This girl has numerous DFFXVHUV PDNLQJ LW XQOLNHO\ IRU ¿QJHUV WR another’s unconsented pleasure is not be pointed. Exposing them is not necesVRPHWKLQJ ZH DUH VXSSRVHG WR NQRZ sary for the imposition of a social sanction. KRZ WR GHDO ZLWK
It’s not fair. It will never be fair. If you are associated with any known perpetrator, and you decide to remain quiet, you are a part of the problem. You are a part of the system that nurtures them, encourages them, and supports them. “You are not the gunman, but you’re the culture that built him. You are the bullets in his gun.”
