DePaulia
The
Volume #100 | Issue #21 | April 25, 2016 | depauliaonline.com
ERIN YARNALL | THE DEPAULIA
Hitting home Protests demand transparency in moving students accused of sexual assault from dorm to dorm
ERIN YARNALL | THE DEPAULIA
ERIN YARNALL | THE DEPAULIA
Feminist Front member Laura Springman leads a chant for Take Back the Dorms.
Take Back the Night targets housing By Erin Yarnall Arts & Life Editor
Chants calling for the end of rape culture and safe housing in the dorms echoed across campus as Feminist Front, an organization at DePaul, hosted Take Back the Night, which included a rally at numerous spots on campus and a march through DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus on April 21. DePaul’s 10th annual Take Back the Night event featured five planned speakers and had around 30 people attend. Feminist Front member Laura Springman said DePaul’s event is part of a larger, international movement that has existed since the 1970s. But this year one of the main focuses was safety in the dorms. “People cannot fear attending college
because they are scared they will be sexually assaulted,” graduate student Brittany Hamilton, who spoke first at the rally, said. In a statement made on the DePaul Feminist Front Facebook page, the group demanded that DePaul create a consensual housing policy to alert students if their potential roommates have been accused of rape, and allow students to refuse to live with accused rapists. The group created a hashtag for students to discuss the issue over social media, #TakeBacktheDorms. DePaul confirmed that a student may be moved after a claim of sexual violence, but cited that a student’s privacy rights prevent them from providing any additional information. “When DePaul receives a report of
See NIGHT, page 5
TOP and BOTTOM: Feminist Front protests down Belden and Sheffield avenues.
Frats, other groups say ‘it’s on all of us’ By Rachel Hinton Nation & World Editor
The ornate decorations of Cortelyou Commons were in contrast with the topic those in the wood-paneled room were discussing on Friday. The building, on the outskirts of DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus represents the old school, the traditions that have stayed. But those present — members of Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) and other fraternities and sororities — were there to discuss a new way of dealing with an age-old problem: sexual assault. The issue is one that has drawn the attention of the city, as well as the state, and in April, national Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), organizations at various levels get to make their grievances more visible and
create plans to address them. Though DePaul’s activist community and the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness took on the prevention of sexual assaults, state lawmakers and advocacy groups around campus have in essence done the same by applying the statement “it’s on us” to themselves, too. The theme for this year’s SAAM focused on the possibility of prevention and the need for conversations to break old traditions of victim blaming, as well as the importance of consent. SigEp hosted and led Friday’s discussion in conjunction with the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness, but other student groups and offices, such as the athletic department, have taken part in the national campaign. The initiative has garnered support
See CONSENT, page 5