Students gathered in front of the Hopkins sign on N. Charles Street on Wednesday afternoon to denounce sexual assault. They stood holding signs, some of which read, “End Rape Culture,” “Estimated 95% Unreported,” “Silence is Violence” and “You are not alone.”
The rally was organized by junior Katharine Shadlock to remind the Hopkins community to unify and take a stand against sexual violence.
“This demonstration is in response to all sexual violence on this campus. As a top 10 university, we need to do better to end sexual violence and the culture that perpetuates it,” Shadlock said.
Many passersby expressed their approval, and one girl even honked her horn as she drove up North Charles, giving a thumbs up from her window.
The event was primarily organized through social media and word of mouth the day before it took place.
“The organization process happened very quickly for this event,” Shadlock said. “From beginning to conclusion, it took less than 24 hours thanks to Facebook, text message and paper fliers.”
She stressed how helpful social media was for letting people know about the rapidly organized event.
“Social media expedited the organization process,” she said. “It definitely made it easier to bring so many people from different classes, different majors, different backgrounds, all together for this cause.”
There were several other students there, most of whom had heard about the event through Facebook.
“Kate invited me to the event on Facebook,” freshman Christina Iruela said. “I was immediately intrigued by it because I know what a huge issue sexual assault on campuses is and how little it’s been addressed.”
The common consensus at the rally was that there needed to be more discussion on sexual violence at Hopkins. Some in attendance referred to the email that Executive Director of Campus Safety and Security Lee James sent on Tuesday afternoon.
The email stated that an investigation had concluded that a sexual assault reported on Nov. 19, 2016 did not occur. The email provided no further details.
Students criticized the email for not explaining what exactly happened.
Senior Sophia Farruggia was surprised by how little information the University provided about the incident.
“I am not going to pretend to be an expert on the situation or the context, but it was extremely hard to believe that nothing happened,” she said. “I understand the constraints and the hardships on the administration, but I just think we should all be on the same team. It shouldn’t be administration against us, we should all be wanting the same thing.”
Farruggia stressed how important it is to keep students in the loop.
“I think lack of transparency might be because they’re afraid of blowback or whatever it is that’s holding them back from telling the truth,” she said. “I think we’re all safer when we know what’s actually happening. Lying is not making anyone safer. Pretending it’s safer is not making anyone safer.”
Sophomore Séamus Ryan-Johnson believes that demonstrations like this can help instill confidence in those who are scared to speak out.
“People who have been sexually assaulted don’t necessarily feel like they have anyone. The biggest thing to show those people is it’s 95 percent unreported,” he said. “I think if people feel that there are others like them, they will be more open about it, talk to someone and have the University address their problem.”
Junior Jane Ogagan expressed a similar sentiment, highlighting some of the fears faced by sexual assault victims.
“People should be aware of rape culture on campus and people should support speaking out against it,” Ogagan said. “There are people that are really fearful that they will lose friends, they’ll lose communities that they’re a part of. It’s a really big misconception. People are here to help. The biggest issue that we have is that people are too afraid to come out and ask for help.”
The student protesters gathered at the Hopkins sign wanted to show solidarity with victims of sexual assault and reiterate that it is an issue that needs to be taken seriously on campus.
“This movement today, this demonstration that we have is a response to all sexual violence that occurs on campus. We as a community need to start to come together, and we need to take a stand against injustice,” Shadlock said. “I think that when we do that, we can properly address our call to action and create a change because this is beyond injustice. This is absolutely unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated any longer.”
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