The Queen's Journal, Volume 146, Issue 2

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the

Queen’s University

journal

Vol. 146, Issue 2

M o n d ay , J u n e 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

since

1873

University faces lawsuit over sexual assaults Plaintiff seeking nearly a million dollars from Queen’s and two other defendants Claim alleges Queen’s lacks adequate policy and education on sexual assault Queen’s ordered to produce contact information for two defendants accused of sexual assault

I ain S herriff -S cott News Editor After a series of alleged sexual assaults in Victoria Hall residence rooms, a former Queen’s student is taking legal action to hold the University vicariously liable. The plaintiff, a former residence advisor,

is seeking $950,000 in damages in the Superior Court of Justice from Queen’s and two other defendants for the alleged 2014 incidents, according to court filings obtained by The Journal. None of the allegations contained in the plaintiff’s statement of claim have been proven in a court of law.

In her statement, the plaintiff alleged that Ali Erfany and another unamed defendant carried out “a series of physical and sexual abuse.” The two are former Queen’s students. The statement pleads that at the time of the alleged assaults, Erfany was a residence facilitator and the unnamed defendant was a house president. Both defendants were “employed by and/or a volunteer of Queen’s University” at the time of

the alleged incidents. According to the statement of claim, Queen’s did not have adequate policies in place to protect victims of sexual assault on campus. Additionally, the statement claims it “failed to follow” the policies that See Lawsuit on page 4

Kingston Pride Parade marches down Princess Street

Ramna Safeer saves self with poetry

Over 450 people participated in Saturday’s parade

Queen’s alum tackles issues of identity in Year of Saving Self

R aechel H uizinga Assistant News Editor On June 16, Kingston’s LGBTQ+ community gathered in McBurney Park to celebrate Pride Day and march down Princess Street for the city’s annual Pride Parade. Saturday’s events saw organizations like HIV/AIDS

Kingston’s Pride Parade on June 16.

Regional Services (HARS), the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), and the Kingston Youth Shelter among the 38 participants who set up dozens of colourful booths in the park. Kingston Pride Ambassador Emrys De Sousa kicked off the celebrations with a speech in McBurney Park. “We are not marching only for ourselves, we are marching for those who’ve come before us,” they said. “We’re marching for people today like those in Lebanon, whose pride celebrations were cancelled.

PHOTO BY RAECHEL HUIZINGA

We’re marching for the future.” “I am so grateful for the opportunity that I’ve been given,” De Sousa, who is Kingston’s first Pride Ambassador, later told The Journal. “I’m really excited to help advocate for and represent the community to the best of my abilities and do right by them.” Ruth Woods, President of Kingston Pride, led the parade dressed in a rainbow coloured gown. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with a very dedicated executive this year,” she told The Journal. “We’ve tried to organize a good pride event, and we’re hoping everyone will have a really good day. I’m really grateful for all the people who have worked on putting this together.” The AMS also marched in the parade, representing Queen’s undergrads. “I think it was really important for us to join, and I think today’s a day to celebrate,” AMS Social Issues Commissioner, Myriam Djossou, See Pride on page 4

B rigid G oulem Arts Editor When Ramna Safeer, ArtSci ’18, first opened the email telling her that her book was going to be published she thought there was a mistake. “At first I was like ‘this is wrong, I never sent anything.’ I was so ready to be like ‘oh I think you have the wrong person’,” she told The Journal. Five months later, Safeer is preparing to publish her first book of poetry with Rahila’s Ghost Press. Year of Saving Self is a collection of poems written by Safeer over the past year, and will be released June 30 with a celebratory reading at Queen Books in Toronto.

The book, named after one of the poems in the collection, is about coming to terms with oneself. Safeer describes it as a “self-actualizing” work that explores womanhood, diaspora, and racialized identity. While all art reflects on the author, Safeer worked to ensure that the work was an authentic reflection of her own identity–one she says is often undervalued. “I wanted this book to sound like it was coming from a young woman, and a young woman of colour especially,” she said. For Safeer, the voice of young women is often belittled and demonized, and she wanted to embrace her own voice as a young, racialized woman. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sounding like a young woman, even though I think that’s a voice that often gets demonized,” she said. While Safeer is concerned with ensuring authenticity in See Poetry on page 8

EDITORIALS

OPINIONS

ARTS

SPORTS

LIFEST YLE

Student ticketing initiative is no safety solution

A foreign exchange alternative to campus debate

Miriam Goldstein talks swapping gender in Henry V

Football player Gage B. Foster remembered

Learning about university from my late aunt

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