One year ago, an anonymous message was plastered on the bridge outside the Bishop’s University campus. Hand-painted on individual sheets of paper, it read “he raped me I reported he’s still in my class BU take action.” In the weeks following, hundreds of disclosures of sexual assault were posted anonymously by students on the bridge and on Instagram, many questioning the university’s response to cases of sexual violence. On Nov. 12 students gathered in protest outside the board of governors meeting with a clear question for the school’s administration: what are you going to change?
Bishop’s University hired the Canadian Centre for Legal Innovation in Sexual Assault Response (CCLISAR) to conduct an independent review of the university’s existing policies and procedures; the organization publicly released the report this June. According to Stine Linden-Andersen, the vice principal of student affairs at Bishop’s, changes made to the school’s policies were informed by this review.
“BU Take Action”: one year after the message on the bridge, what is Bishop’s University doing to tackle sexual violence?
By Alexandra Pountcheva, Local Journalism Initiative
