October 10, 2021
Photos by Holden Green
Students from MU, Columbia College and Stephens College filled Traditions Plaza on Tuesday, Oct. 5, to protest rape and sexual violence on college campuses nationwide.
The protest, titled “Show Me: Mizzou Without Rape,” started at 7 p.m. MU junior Chloe Nielsen, who organized the protest, started the protest with an introduction.
“No means no,” Nielsen said. “No matter where I go or how I dress, no means no.”
Strip Your Letters, a national collegiate movement calling for women in Greek Life to avoid publicly affiliating with their sororities to advocate for Panhellenic reforms, promoted Tuesday’s protest. Nielsen said that the organization sent her an Instagram direct message on Sept. 24 asking her to organize a protest because they hadn’t found an MU organizer yet.
“[Sexual violence] has always been a problem on Mizzou’s campus and has always been something that I care about,” Nielsen said. “In the past few weeks specifically, it’s been rough as a survivor. It’s been concerning, so I felt that there needed to be some more student [action] and more students speaking out.”
Throughout the night, students held signs and expressed their disappointment with the MU administration and the Office of Civil Rights & Title IX, which students said were more interested in reputation and money than in student safety and confidentiality concerns.
Several protestors said that MU’s Civil Rights & Title IX mandatory reporting system — which applies to human resources such as professors, counselors and Residential Life employees — is set up to disadvantage survivors by only helping those that come forward.
“We don’t feel safe being forced to report,” Nielsen said. “We can’t access other forms of support from anyone outside of the RSVP Center, because the mandatory report system is built into a pipeline that forces survivors to report. I don’t think that we should be forcing people to do things that they don’t want to do.”
Multiple students also discussed consent and the proliferation of rape culture on campus, at bars downtown and within MU Greek life.
“After being here for three years, the amount of stories [regarding sexual violence] that I hear from close friends; it’s sickening,” MU junior Aileen Puscian said. “I think showing up here, and having a mass amount of people here just shows how much we’re not going to tolerate that.”
During the protest, students called for more accessible and affordable counseling services and sexual healthcare, better classroom accommodations for survivors, such as class content warnings, and more self-initiated actions from the MU administration to address sexual violence, among other campus reforms.
On Sept. 17, MUPD sent out a campus-wide email warning students of “multiple reports from individuals suspecting that drinks may have been drugged at various locations throughout Columbia,” some of which “may have involved fraternity social events.”
MU junior Amanda Eversgerd said being alert and aware of her environment to avoid sexual violence is something she experiences constantly.
“As a woman, it sucks having to constantly be thinking about my surroundings and who I’m talking to and where my drink is, just in fear of getting drugged,” Eversgerd said. “It means a lot to me to see all these people here in support of survivors, and especially the men who have shown up, I think is a really important thing.”
MU senior Mackenzie Beaver, chapter director of It’s On Us Mizzou, an advocacy organization for sexual violence survivors, said she hopes the protest will demonstrate that there are community members who will “refuse to be silent” about sexual violence. She also hopes the protest will inspire new dialogue between administration and students.
“There is always room for improvement between law enforcement and survivor support resources,” Beaver said. “My hope is that these conversations happen, and that language and resources can be better conveyed to students, so that way this issue can be taken seriously, and those who are going through things can feel supported.”
MU junior Joshua Robinson emphasized the importance of Tuesday’s protest to students’ allyship of survivors.
“I just think it’s really important to show up to events like these and really support survivors of sexual assault,” Robinson said. “I don’t get told that many stories about sexual assault happening, but I know it is, and it’s very important for me — as somebody who listens and is an ally — to show up. There’s an underlying history of sexual assault on college campuses.”
Vice Chancellor Bill Stackman attended the protest along with MU spokesperson Christian Basi. Basi said that MU was “very much in support” of the protest.
“It was wonderful to see this many people come out and support this,” Basi said.
Basi said he could not speak on specific allegations expressed during the protest.
MU will begin to take actions to address student concerns about sexual violence later this week, Basi said.
“We are going to be having some continuing conversations,” Basi said. “I know that there are meetings already set [for] later in the week to continue the conversation, so that’s good. We’re also looking at some of the requests that have come in, and we’re looking to see what we can change.”
Basi also stated that MU plans to hold individuals accountable for their actions.
“It’s also very important that everyone know that the university does not tolerate in any way, shape or form, criminal behavior from anyone: students, faculty, staff, even visitors on campus,” Basi said.
Looking forward, Nielsen said she hopes the MU administration takes more actions to address sexual violence, including forming a “task force focused on continuous actions.” At the end of the night, Nielsen said she was pleased with the turnout.
“When I started this [protest], I would have been happy with 10 people [in attendance],” Nielsen said. “I knew that it had the potential to gather more people because I know that this is a conversation that needed to be had on campus, but I’m extraordinarily happy with it.”
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, there are resources available to serve you. The MU Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center is an anonymous, confidential source and can be reached at (573)-882-6638. The MU Counseling Center provides a 24/7 Hotline at (573)-882-6601. The National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at 1-800-656-4673. A more complete list of resources can be found at this link: https://rsvp.missouri.edu/students/resources/.
Edited by Emmet Jamieson & Namratha Prasad | ejamieson@themaneater.com, nprasad@themaneater.com
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