News 13

Carleton University students protest Safe Space policy

Colin Slark
Team Member

ttawa’s Carleton University had a

rough first week. As reported on the
CBC, multiple leaders were found during
orientation week at an off-campus party
wearing t-shirts with the words “Fuck Safe
Space” on the front. Many institutions
have similar policies, but Carleton’s
website defines their Safe Space policy
as “An interactive workshop designed to
reduce homophobia and heterosexism on
campus and to increase the visibility of
supportive people and positive spaces for
the GLBTQ community on campus.” One
student has been banned from campus
after being charged with three counts of
sexual assault.

The question is why would students,
especially ones working to welcome

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newcomers, attack a policy meant to
create a safe and inclusive space for
students to learn? This incident smacks
off the commonly-held belief that

giving non-white, non-straight, or non-
Christian individuals the freedom to be
who they are is an assault against the
majority of people. Last year, orientation
leaders from a commerce club at UBC
and orientation leaders at Halifax’s

Saint Mary’s University both led new
students in similar chants that promoted
non-consensual and underage sex. New
students are arriving at post-secondary
institutions to find a culture that is allowed
to be toxic and potentially harmful to a
large segment of the people on campus.

Some Carleton students went on Twitter
to argue that the shirts weren’t meant

to be offensive and that they were only
protesting anti-swearing rules contained

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Students protest Safe Space limitations
Leslie Robertson

within the Safe Space rules. In the case

of the chants at UBC, some students
complained that they were only following
some kind of tradition. However, those
assertions ring hollow. These students
didn’t attack one aspect of the program,
they attacked the program as a whole.
The UBC students shouted out loud that
women were objects only fit for sexual
gratification by males. What these students
have forgotten is that programs like this
are not designed for them alone; they’re
designed to protect them and people

who aren’t like them. Unfortunately,

this incident and the alleged sexual
assaults prove why institutions need
these kinds of rules in place.

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