Controversy at Creighton has heightened this past month. Discourse regarding sexual assault, hazing, and the responsibilities of institutions to protect its own community, has caused students to question how they can achieve justice.
Hearing students participate in these conversations is both relieving and concerning. These paradoxical feelings are a result of hearing so many students question whether or not justice is possible when the rules are unclear.
This confusion is unsurprising to me. In a communications course I took last semester, our class discussed a study that revealed most students do not know how to define sexual assault and that most universities do not outline or outwardly define sexual assault. So, the hard question is: how do we bring about justice when our rules and laws are not properly written to protect us?
I am unsure of the answer to this question but I think a start to finding the solution is to learn how to identify the unjust so that we can bring about change. Here are six popular videos that I think can teach us all something important about sexual assault, domestic abuse, violence against women, and feminism.
1. #DearDaddy
"His son, raised on these jokes, becomes my business...dear daddy, this is the favor I want to ask, one thing always leads to another, so please stop it before it gets the chance to begin...because behind every joke there is always some truth."
This video outlines how violence against women is a progression that begins from upbringing. It highlights that excusing something as small as implicit jokes can desensitize abuse and assault.
2. NO MORE
This famous PSA ends with this message:
"When its hard to talk. It's up to us to listen."
It is important to remember that it can take time for victims of violence, abuse, and assault to seek intervention.
3. #WhoWillYouHelp
"When you do nothing, you're helping him."
The sad truth about tis video is that bystanders are not always expected to intervene. Just remember that sometimes you may have a choice in taking preventative measures.
4. The Hunting Ground Trailer
"I thought if I told them, they would take action. But the only action they took was against me."
Even though this is a trailer, the clips from the documentary stress that we need to be more aware of how sexual assault on college campuses are handled.
5. 1 is 2 Many -PSA
How do we define consent, why do we victim blame, and who do we count on to make sure that everyone knows that one is still too many?
"It is happening to our sisters and our daughters...
Our wives and our friends."
Sometimes it is much easier to offer empathy when we think of others in terms of how they may personally relate to us. Any woman can be a friend, daughter, sister, wife, or mother and any man can be a friend, son, brother, husband, or father. It is good to remember that we can all share these identities because we are all human and any one of us could be a victim. Let's extend to each other what we would want for ourselves- help in achieving justice.
6. Emma Watson's Speech - HeForShe Campaign
"When one person's safety is violated, everyone feels their own safety is violated. A university should be a place of refuge that takes action against all forms of violence."
This feminist based speech emphasizes the importance of equality in justice, an underlying value in Creighton's Jesuit Education.
At Creighton, I have noticed that any time an impactful event occurs, someone from the Creighton administration sends students an email, usually reminding us of the Jesuit values. Given that many of these videos have questioned how universities treat victims, I think it is important to reconsider and meditate a couple of our Jesuit values.
From our Creighton Website:
https://www.creighton.edu/about/what-jesuit-education
"Magis: Literally translated “more.” This is the challenge to strive for excellence.
Women & Men for and with Others: Sharing gifts, pursuing justice, and having concern for the poor and marginalized.
Forming & Educating Agents of Change: Teaching behaviors that reflect critical thought and responsible action on moral and ethical issues."
So, let us remember that when there are unjust actions taken against one of our peers, we should strive for more equality and justice as men and women for and with others so that we can be true agents of change. Rape is wrong, assault is wrong, abuse is wrong, violence is wrong, victim blaming is wrong, and universities protecting themselves over the interest of their students is wrong.
To be absolutely clear, this is not just a challenge to us, as students, to bring about change. This is a challenge to our university to uphold its own values and make things right when there is unjust.
