CHICAGO, IL, November 4, 2016- A group of Loyola University Chicago students, under the name of Students for Reproductive Justice, interrupted President Rooney's inauguration ceremony.
The action began in the afternoon on Loyola's Lake Shore Campus. In an act of silent protest, students duct taped their mouths shut and held up a 'blood-stained' bed sheet with "Silence is Violence" written on it. The bed sheet, which belongs to a survivor of rape, is a symbolic representation of the damage caused by Loyola's inaction and mishandling of sexual assault cases on campus.
Administrators responded by moving the inauguration to the other side of the Father Damen statue. The students followed suit, and were physically pushed by a camerawoman who tried to stop them from getting on camera. Students were also approached by a Jesuit priest who told them that they were "disgusting".
Below is a statement written by the group:
It is undeniable, given the recent course of events regarding sexual assault on Loyola's campus, that rape culture has permeated our community and remains unchecked. The Loyola administration assured Students for Reproductive Justice that—while they could not support our mission of bringing contraception to campus—"we can all agree" that sexual assault is a real and present danger to the health and wellness of students and community members. Their actions, or lack thereof, however, demonstrate the exact opposite sentiment.
Tim Love, the university's interim Title IX coordinator hired to handle sexual assault cases on campus, lost and mishandled a student's sexual assault case. As a result, charges have not been filed, and this student's rapist continues to attend class and go through life without consequences. There was no justice served for the survivor. What message does this send to the student body about how Loyola views and handles sexual assault? The administration seems committed to prohibiting Students for Reproductive Justice from demonstrating on campus in any manner, yet cannot keep track of a student's case against her rapist? Campus Safety can shut down numerous parties per weekend, but the staff trained to handle sexual assault heinously botched the procedure?
This disastrous and shameful misconduct is simply the icing on an insidious cake of the string of sexual assaults that have occurred in the Loyola community over the past months—few resulting in apprehension of the offenders. Just last night, Campus Safety issued an email regarding a student that was "battered" by being groped inappropriately. It seems the school's response to the sexual assault problem is to relabel it and pretend like it doesn't exist.
But it does. And it's directly harming students and prohibiting them from living their lives. This is a direct threat to the safety and wellbeing of our students, and the administration does not seem to care. They certainly aren't as against sexual assault as they are condoms being handed out on campus. These attitudes and faulty priorities contribute to the very rape culture that allows sexual assault to occur so rampantly.
Furthermore, the new president of the university, Jo Ann Rooney, has her own despicable record on handling sexual assault. Formerly a senior adviser within the United States Department of Defense, Rooney came under fire when asked about a proposal to remove the chain of command for reports of sexual assault within the military. According to Politico, Rooney said that "'A judge advocate outside the chain of command will be looking at a case through a different lens than a military commander. I believe the impact would be decisions based on evidence rather than the interest in preserving good order and discipline.' Decisions based solely on evidence, she suggested, would have an unfavorable outcome. 'I believe this will result in fewer prosecutions and therefore defeat the very problem that I understand it seeks to address.'"
For these reasons, Students for Reproductive Justice protested during the inauguration of President Jo Ann Rooney. It is clear that the administration needs these dangers to be brought to their attention. Their silence is a glaring endorsement of the rape culture that so clearly flourishes here at Loyola. Silence serves as a backwards, and fundamentally unjust, response; it punishes survivors, while rewarding assailants with no repercussions. The university administration assured Students for Reproductive Justice that sexual assault is an issue about which they are concerned, but their actions prove the opposite. We are hurting and we are outraged that members of this community are being met with unabashed inaction from the university. We must demand action from them. Their silence is violence.
We demand that…
The university fire Tim Love, the current Title IX coordinator, for continuing to mishandle sexual assault cases.
The university apologize publicly for its downplaying of the growing epidemic of rape culture, and for losing a student's case.
The university wellness center remove The Women's Center as a resource for pregnant students. Providing inaccurate medical information to students is an act of violence in and of itself.
The university, if it is truly a place that promotes critical thinking, revise its fascist solicitation policy, which states that unregistered student groups cannot "promote an idea" on campus.
The university provide contraceptive services to students for free and without shame, including but not limited to condoms, lube, dental dams, IUDs, the depo shot, the pill, and medically accurate information about abortion.
