A sign hung outside an off-campus house in Antigonish, N.S., during St. Francis Xavier University’s homecoming weekend is being described as an example of rape culture and has drawn condemnation from two universities and a professor who teaches at St. FX.
The sign read “Drop-off zone: Acadia girlfriends.”
Tara Taylor, a professor and the chair of the mathematics department at St. FX, saw the sign while driving home with her child on Friday evening. She returned later to take a photo of it.
“I thought I should really take a photo of it to document this,” she said. “This is not OK and I don’t want to contribute to the silence around it.”
It’s unclear why the sign targets Acadia students. There were no varsity games taking place on campus against the Wolfville, N.S., university Saturday.
St. FX has previously been criticized for how it handles sexualized violence on campus.
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Taylor said there was another sign at the home that was more offensive, but she chose not to take a photo of it.
She posted the photo to Facebook to see if others had the same visceral reaction as she did. Taylor said people generally did.
“I saw it as a taunt and just very much treating girlfriends as objects, as possessions,” she said. “I just found it very offensive and part of rape culture. I didn’t see it as just a joke.”
Taylor said the sign was removed by 11 a.m. AT on Saturday, but was back up later in the night. As of Sunday morning, it’s unclear if the sign is still hanging.
In a statement attributed to St. FX’s vice-president of student life, Elizabeth Yeo, the university said it is investigating the matter and takes it very seriously. It said students found to violate the university’s code of conduct will be held accountable.
“Conduct that demeans, objectifies or disrespects others has no place in the St. FX community,” she wrote.
The statement called the sign offensive.
That wording bothers Taylor.
“I don’t think it went far enough to condemn what it was,” she said.
Taylor, who has taught at the university for 22 years, said not a year goes by when a student doesn’t approach her to tell her they’ve been sexually assaulted, and she sees the consequences that has on them personally and academically.
“I would say women at St. FX have been kind of screaming about this for decades,” she said.
Taylor said the school has made some changes over the years, including instituting a sexual violence policy and educating the community about consent.
But she said more could be done, including having men in leadership positions, coaches and team captains speak out and say situations like this are unacceptable.
On Sunday morning, St. FX issued a second statement, this one signed by president Andrew Hakin.
It called the sign degrading and deeply concerning.
“Language that objectifies women or makes light of sexualized violence has no place at St. FX or in any community,” Hakin wrote.
“We understand the concern and anger this has caused, both within our own community and beyond it. St. FX unequivocally rejects misogyny, sexualized and gender-based violence, and the attitudes and behaviours that contribute to rape culture.”
The statement said the university intervened to have the sign removed and when it was reposted, it took further action to have it taken down again. The university did not detail exactly what it did.
The statement said the matter has been referred to the university’s discipline process.
“Every member of our community deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” Hakin wrote. “We all have a responsibility to challenge behaviour that diminishes others, normalizes sexualized violence, or undermines the safety and belonging of members of our community.”
Acadia also issued a statement and said the sign encouraged sexual violence against its students.
“What happened in Antigonish is a symptom of a society-wide problem,” it said. “It is our collective responsibility as higher education institutions to speak out against violence against women, and rape culture specifically.”
The university encouraged affected students to contact its sexualized violence response office for support.
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