Rape culture ‘continues to persist’ at Mac
Student union president says McMaster not doing enough to back survivors of sexual violence
Rape culture exists at McMaster and the university isn’t doing enough to address it, says the head of McMaster’s students union.
Amid a Spectator investigation into McMaster University’s handling of sexual violence, Giancarlo Da-Ré, president of the McMaster Students Union (MSU), says students have raised concerns about a lack of campus support for survivors of sexual violence for years. The union is calling on McMaster to expanded professional supports — including hiring more professional counsellors and trained staff — and to provide better resources for survivors.
“Sexual violence and rape culture continue to persist at McMaster University,” said Da-Ré. “The issue of sexual violence and the lack of adequate response is a concern repeatedly vocalized by students.”
The university has called sexual violence a societal issue, acknowledging it filters onto campus.
“Absolutely, this is an issue for campuses, this is an issue for society,” said Arig al Shaibah, head of McMaster’s Equity and Inclusion Office, responding to Da-Ré’s comments in a recent interview. “Gender-based violence is not going away.”
Rape culture — which is not acknowledged in McMaster’s existing sexual violence policy — is defined by student-run advocacy group Students for Consent Culture Canada (SFCC) as: “a culture in which dominant ideas, social practices, media images and societal institutions implicitly or explicitly condone sexual assault by normalizing or trivializing sexual violence and by blaming survivors for their own abuse.”
As for MSU’s call for expanded supports, no one at McMaster was available to respond to the specific demands this week.
But in an earlier interview, al Shaibah said she believes her office has made “improvements” in its efforts to help survivors in recent years. Among steps taken, it added one additional person to its sexual violence and prevention office, which previously had just one employee.
“But there’s always more, and better, that we can do,” she said.
The Spec’s months-long investigation has revealed that McMaster sexual violence policy fails survivors. Advocates and survivors have called on the university to review its policy and have called on the province to change its campus sexual violence law. Neither have committed to action.
In July, the university did take a c t i o n , h oweve r, when it launched an investigation, called a “department climate review,” following allegations of sexual violence and harassment within its Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour (PNB). The review, completed in December, uncovered reports that the university ignores sexual violence. It also found “systemic and cultural issues” in the PNB department and “a degree of complacency that has let inappropriate behaviours go unchecked.”
Students supporting students
Too often, the burden of helping survivors falls to student volunteers, say survivors, advocates and experts, who routinely emphasized this point to The Spec throughout its investigation.
“It’s heavy,” said Victoria DePaulo, a former McMaster student and survivor of sexual assault. She became a safe-space facilitator — a volunteer role — with MSU’s Women and Gen
der Equity Network (WGEN) after feeling let down by what she calls the university’s mishandling of her sexual violence complaint.
In her WGEN capacity, she recalls spending hours — sometimes as many as five with one person — as survivors recounted their assault.
“Students trust it because it’s student-run,” she said. “Students would rather talk to someone on their own level.”
Still, she questions why just one part-time WGEN staffer is paid. “They need to be paid. That’s the bare minimum,” said Sam Rockbrune, outreach coordinator with SFCC, the national advocacy group. “This work is not easy and we can’t rely just on volunteers.”
It’s not easy — and there’s a lot of it.
McMaster recorded 121 disclosures of sexual violence in 201920. Disclosures occur when someone comes forward about an experience of sexual violence — for example, to access support. That number is up from 101 the previous year.
As for paying volunteers, Rockbrune is sympathetic to the reality that student unions are limited in how much money they can put to any one organization. It’s the province and universities that need to step up, she said.
Even so, Da-Ré said MSU “plans to expand the staff complement and volunteer support” for WGEN.
But the university needs to come to the table, too.
“Sexual violence prevention and response must be made a priority of the highest of importance by the university,” Da-Ré said. “Students deserve to feel safe at McMaster.”