SINCE 1944
VOLUME 77 ISSUE 6
December 06 2021
Can’t stop the music: BU singers to perform first 2 concert since 2019 – Eva Rachert We recycle, we compost, we throw away 9 –Tanya O’Reilly
The unhappy marriage of anger and critical thinking –Anonymous Drama department’s stellar return to theatre with Speech and Debate – Leo Webster
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Student run since 1944 4 10
Women’s basketball jumps out to an impressive 7 start – David Rossitier Omicron and the holidays– Liz Beaumont 12
Fourth annual Take Back the Night protest soars
Jeremy Audet - Contributor TW: sexual assault On the rainy evening of Nov. 18, about 300 members of the Bishop’s community congregated at Optimist Field for the fourth annual Take Back the Night march. The first march at Bishop’s was organized by then-student Anika Malone in 2018 and since then, the movement has only expanded and the attendance to the annual protests has grown. While the cold November rain fell with a steady rattle on umbrellas and raincoats, Vicky Boldo, the Special Advisor Indigenous Student Support, kicked off the evening with an Indigenous song of strength and resilience. Camilla Rizzi, colead of the Indigenous Cultural Alliance, then delivered a passionate speech on the Indigenous perspective and reality in regards to sexual violence. The fact remains that, in Canada, Indigenous women are much more likely to be the victims of sexual and domestic violence than any other demographic in the country. “We deserve to feel safe on our campus. We are alone, most are very far from home and no one is representing Indigenous women in administration or faculty. There’s an urgent need for more Indigenous resources and representation. This needs to change.” She continued: “To all you Indigenous allies: I call upon you to understand how serious this is and to step
up in this fight against violence.” As an Indigenous woman from a remote community in northern Nunavut, Rizzi then turned the focus on herself and her peers: “With the high likelihood of something happening to me and my friends, who will be there to speak for and care for us? How is the school and community protecting us from becoming another statistic?” Next, the co-leads and junior coleads of the Sexual Culture Committee (SCC) joined their voices to share an impactful speech on sexual violence in our community, and how it affects nearly all of us. “Now more than ever, we need your help, we need each and every one of you to aid in this fight to make our community safer. Change is within our grasp and it has been because of you. We need speechwriters, social media gurus, we need fighters, peacemakers, educators, musicians, artists, and we need dreamers,” co-leads Scotia Sharpe and Amie Godward exclaimed, passing the microphone back and forth to much applause. “We need to hold our community accountable, and that means holding ourselves accountable,” junior co-lead Georgia LaPierre declared. “This means difficult conversations with friends and checking our f**king privilege, it means making space for those who need their voices heard,” Sharpe continued.
Layout design by Gabrielle Liu & Cassie MacDonell
Godward finished the speech saying, “this will not be swept under the rug. This is not a moment, this is a f**king movement. […] Now let’s take back the f**king night.” Chants for change began as students marched through the streets of Lennoxville: “One, two, three, four, we won’t take this anymore. Five, six, seven, eight, no more violence, no more hate.” “Take a stand, take back the night.” “No means no, it doesn’t mean maybe.” A few students voiced their opinions in the heat of the moment. Terrence Owen Baker, fourth-year student, said, “Bishop’s needs to answer for what’s been happening. It’s inspiring to see everyone here take on this initiative. It’s great to see students taking action when the school won’t.” Leontyne Haché, third-year, said, “It honestly gives me hope. With our school, it makes me feel happy that I can be supported by this whole community around me if anything were to happen to me. In the last few weeks, it’s the most change I’ve seen in my three years here at BU.” Jackson Parr-MacDonald, a friend of Malone and fifth-year student, was thrilled to see the progress the Bishop’s community has made since his friend started the Take Back the Night movement four years ago. “There wasn’t anything to this level back then. I was here when Anika started up the first TBTN, and I remember it was just
Photo courtesy of Gabrielle Liu fifteen of us walking around and yelling. It’s great to see the change, amazing to see the momentum. It gives me a lot of hope for the future. Anika must be so proud, and she should feel so proud. She’s done a tremendous thing here.” The march ended at the gazebo on campus where Elisa Philibert, a communications director for the SCC, read a poem she had written the evening before. The poem spoke about the weight of sexual assault on the shoulders of survivors, friends of survivors, and advocates for change and progress. “I can give them everything,” she shouted, “but it is nothing against safety, it is nothing if late at night they can’t walk around the town, it is nothing if late at night they can’t party in the bar. It is nothing if their no’s are turned to maybes. It is nothing if their complaints are ignored and broken.” Before bringing the march to a close, Sharpe offered some final words: “You have to keep the pressure on the administration, you have to keep having tough conversations with your friends, we have to keep moving forwards or else nothing is ever going to change. Every single person here can make a difference.” Boldo closed the march with an Indigenous song, encouraging the crowd to sing with her. The strength and pride of the community was almost tangible. Progress, it seemed, flowed from every voice.