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The Sum of all Talent Billy and the boys rock Budweiser Gardens. >> pg. 5
thegazette What have we gotten ourselves into since 1906
Friday, April 5, 2013
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Volume 106, Issue 96
SlutWalk to march on after setback Kaitlyn McGrath Associate Editor Despite a previous cancellation due to financial issues, London’s annual SlutWalk will be occurring as planned on April 21 in Victoria Park. Organizers of London’s SlutWalk, an event held to call attention to and bring an end to victim blaming and sex shaming, became aware that in order to hold the event in Victoria Park, they would require off-duty police officers present. The cost of this would have been approximately $700 and Jessica Fay, the event’s main organizer, stated she would not be able to afford the bill. “I called the police and they gave me an estimate that they need two to three constables and two police cars,” she explained. Fay said SlutWalk has never involved the police in the two previous years the event was held. However, organizers of Take Back the Night, an event that is run by the Women’s Event Committee, a non-profit group, informed Fay that London Police had charged them after their event in September. Caiti Barendregt-Brown, a member of WEC, explained that prior to Take Back the Night organizers did not contact police about hiring offduty officers, but after the event they were charged approximately
$600. “What happens whenever you have an event like that in the city— especially one that is going to be marching down the street—if you want permission from the police to do so, they have to hire auxiliary police officers or extra staff so they charged us for that,” she said. The SlutWalk London event would have featured public speakers as well as a march through a designated route, but because of the steep cost of hiring a police presence, Fay and fellow organizers cancelled the event. “I almost started crying—it was really stressful,” Fay admitted. “I was overwhelmed because I don’t have $700. As much as I love SlutWalk, I don’t have $700 to pay for it.” However, London city councillor Sandy White reached out to organizers to prevent its cancellation. White explained she is an advocate for women’s issues and didn’t want to see an important event like SlutWalk cancelled due to finances. “I support women’s issues and I think that we need to get back to our roots,” she said. “We don’t hear a lot about women’s issues these days and it’s something that we need to support and endorse.” White, along with council funds, will foot the bill for the event. However, White also added that this
Courtesy of Mich Estaño
is not the first time she has heard concern from community groups over the policy of organizations paying for off-duty police officers and encourage community members to bring the issue to council. Jess Kiley, a fourth-year women’s studies student and participant in SlutWalk, explained she is relieved the march is back on. “We’re happy and so glad as the
organizers that SlutWalk is happening, but we’re going to city council to stop this from happening for both other student organizers that want to do things, but also people in the community that are marginalized or don’t have access to socioeconomic resources in order to do things like this.” Inspector Lynn Sutherland of the London Police Service was
unable to comment on this specific event, however, she did state that there is always risk involved in public events and a police presence reduces that risk. “If you’re wanting to guarantee officer attendance for such an event, then yes, a hire-on is your best way to assure that you mitigate risk and guarantee officer attendance,” she said.
USC to embrace ChangeCamp proposals Jeremiah Rodriguez Gazette Staff
Julian Uzielli Gazette
The University Students’ Council released a report compiling the discussions held at last year’s ChangeCamp, an open forum “unconference” with no keynote speakers, agenda or focus on particular policies. Instead, the onus was on participants from all over campus to pitch ideas and discuss whatever topics they felt were relevant to the Western community. “The problem I see is a lack of discussion, lack of real awareness of things we all face. I want people to discuss whatever they’re passionate about in as wide a circle as possible,” Amir Eftekharpour, lead coordinator for the last three forums, said. ChangeCamp, the third forum in the past two years, encouraged students, faculty, administrators and the USC to not only choose, vote on
and discuss topics but also to learn how take those ideas and learn how to spread them meaningfully. Broad and specific topics which were contested in groups included but weren’t limited to transitioning Western to a pay-per-credit tuition system instead of having a flat fee, the formation of a soph association, the role of private funds in public education, tuition freezes, O-Week changes and further tackling of sexual violence and racial stigmas. After the discussions, this year organizers arranged three speakers to offer their perspectives from either the political side, the creative angle or the academic side. “[ChangeCamp] meant to push people out and to say you can’t stop here—take those ideas and put them out,” Eftekharpour said, adding he also hopes to have a permanent online version of the forum. President-elect Pat Whelan said
he was hopeful about the impact this and future ChangeCamps would have on actual policy changes. “My perspective as presidentelect is that we can help with the political side of the perspective of the change. What I really want to see is [us taking] those ideas and form them into policies—whether it’s a policy recommendation for the university or policies directly governing the USC,” Whelan said. However, Whelan said implementation of those discussions was imperative to how these ideas were transformed into policy. “I feel that what happens up to now is that you get a good set of ideas, solution to problems, new perspectives and that’s where it ends,” Whelan said. “The USC next year will look to bring that to the next level, bring it into policy and see the changes coming through the process.”