USC students protest explicit fraternity email, campus culture

More than 100 USC students protested Monday against a controversial, sexually explicit email that was passed among fraternities on the campus last month. They called on university officials and the student body to take stronger action against what they described as an unhealthy campus culture that tolerates sexual harassment against women.

The demonstration was organized by Safe USC, a group that formed after the email circulated across campus and beyond. Students and faculty marched in a circle near the Tommy Trojan statue in the center of the University Park campus, carrying signs and chanting slogans including “Our bodies, our lives; our campus, our rights.” 

“I expect my campus to provide a safe and pressure-free environment,” said Alicia Lu, a 22-year-old senior and a protest organizer. She also criticized administrators' judgment as "misguided, and not enough.” 

Michael L. Jackson, vice president for student affairs at USC and the subject of some of the criticism, took the microphone toward the end of the demonstration. He condemned the email, which rated women in explicit sexual terms, as “the most repugnant thing I’ve ever read." Jackson said a continuing conversation on campus about the issues was crucial. 

“We are willing to work with anyone who has better ideas for improving what we do,” Jackson said to the crowd that minutes before had been chanting “We want action, Dr. Jackson.”

“Don’t be silent," he said. "Do make your voices heard.”

-- Rick Rojas

Comments

[Ted Bear]

Wow, clueless college students. The emails offensive or not are Freedom of Speach!!!!!! First Amendment Rights. They are not taught about books being banned and burned.

You must defend that which is the most offensive to you otherwise these same 100 may find out on day that they too are forbidden from expressing themselves and speaking and and worse could be put to death for expressing their opinion!!!!!!

[Quick Time]

“the most repugnant thing I’ve ever read."

He's a bald-faced liar. Gee, college guys rating girls for looks and sex appeal. Shocking!

All Hail the New Puritans!

[Ann Common]

Will we ever see an end to the academy's attacks on the freedom of speech? Stand firm, frat boys. You have a right to say anything but "fire" in a crowded theater.

[LAcityLiving]

Men talk. Women talk. Sometimes, amongst friends, the talk can be shockingly base. But it looks like the members of Safe USC want to turn this talk into a threat to their safety and comfort. I've been witness to high school presentations where the boys are taught that their sexual instincts have them but a hairs-breadth away from back-alley rape and male hormones are only used for hurting. I've argued with the scary man-hating zealots who put these programs on (The Junior Anti-Sex League, straight out of Orwell's "1984."), suggesting that seeing women as helpless creatures needing society's protection is just another form of paternalism. Not all men are frat boys; sensitive and magnanimous men don't come with bad boy baggage. Young women who are attracted to alpha guys must make sensible decisions, be responsible for their own actions, and not be surprised when these uber-males brag about their score. If a crime occurs, call the police. But storming around, demanding to neuter all men, creating a climate of shame regarding sexual feelings, doesn't make anyone safer.

[Marge]

Okay, so this article tells nothing of what was said. Does it discusses particular women and their attractiveness? If so, there was something similar, but even more vicious and juvenile released last year by a female Duke student outlining every detail, including physical endowment, of the many men she pleasured while a student at the university and hardly anything was said about it. I'm sure this fits right in with the double standard that will always exist.

[Appalled]

To those of you who are actually up in arms, veritably angry about your "freedom of speech," perhaps you should actually read the email before exposing your extreme right-wing conservatism and/or ignorance. It is not only mysoginistic, but vile. Racist, violent, repugnant. It encourages getting girls drunk just up to the point of vomiting and rape, as well as unprotected sex. It requests that girls be rated according the attributes of her genitals. It discourages having sex with girls of certain ethnicities/nationalities.

I can only wonder how you would feel if one of these "men" wrote about, tricked, or raped your daughter or sister. Get a life and get mad about something worth getting mad about -- not the rights of rich white boys to spew hate and take advantage of young girls.

http://jezebel.com/#!5779905/usc-frat-guys-email-explains-women-are-targets-not-actual-people-like-us-men

[LAcityLiving]

Dear Appalled:

Not being in favor of speech codes does not place someone in the extreme right-wing. Professor Chomsky says that limits on free speech, intended to increase public safety (e.g. Tea Party rhetoric suggesting 2nd amendment solutions to political problems), usually end up being used to silence political minorities and dissident voices.

Your horror regarding what another person might say or think, especially when discussing women, is troubling: in life, the sticks-and-stones approach probably works best. The idea that your gender requires protection from talk you don't find appealing runs counter to the principles of feminism. The feminist movement sought to define women as equal to men. Now you're suggesting women belong in a special, protected category. Is that what you really want?

To take revenge on these rich, white frat boys I'd suggest all the gals at USC turn down all requests for dates and never attend their parties. These bad boys could possibly grow so lonely they start showing some manners. Please give up your protest to have Dr. Jackson (Dean Wormer?) put all misogynists on double secret probation!