June 25, 1990

Other Press

Vancover Rape Relief teams up With DCSS and Other Press to Stop Rape

by Tim Crumley

Vancouver Rape Relief and Womens’ Shelter volunteers teamed up with the Douglas Col- lege Student Society and the Other Press last Wednesday to help stop rape.

It’s all a part of an ongoing phone drive organized by Rape Relief to help.raise money for the organization. The normal space used by Rape Relief for its phone drive is no longer available, so the DCSS and the Other Press gave the organization use of its space for the night.

Rape Relief Funding Commit- tee member Regina Lorek has been with the organization for 11 years. She likes doing phone drives.

"The first phone call is the hardest," she says, "but people are usually friendly and after that first call, you get on a roll."

The volunteers raised $148 for the Crisis Line and Women’s Shel- ter.

By Philip Sewell TORONTO (CUP) -- York law school administrators are stew- ing over a report which says the * university should take steps against sexism, and some students are _ crying foul. Osgoode. Hall’s faculty coun- cil has rejected a gender equity

’ committee’s recommendations on-

employment equity, and plans to amend the committee’s 30 other proposals.

"The amended recommenda- tions are a joke and everyone ‘knows it," said one Osgoode stu- dent, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. "Why should we trust the goodwill of the law

The Shelter is a house bought by Rape Relief in 1981 where women who are being beaten at home can go. They (and their children, if any) stay at the Shelter until they can find a place of their own.

The Crisis Line operates 24 hours a day to help women who have been raped get through the experience.

Lorek was happy with the money raised. "Pays the mortgage, pays for the food."

Use of the DCSS and Other Press space may be given to them permanently.

Matthew Martin, Staff Repre- sentative for the Other Publications Society, said the Other Press was happy to let Rape Relief use their space.

"It’s a worthwhile cause,” he said.

When asked if he approved of Rape Relief coming back to the Other Press, he replied "Oh,

school?"

"They ’ve taken the teeth out of them," another student said. "They’ve changed all the firm recomendations to recomendations in principle."

The 255 page report said female students, staff and faculty are constantly threatened’ and sexually harassed.

The university established the committee -- of staff, faculty and students -- last fall, as part of a settlement with a group of female lawyers, researchers and students who complained of "systematic discrimination in the hiring, promotion, and terms and condi- tions of employment for female

definately. They are always wel- ©

come here." Vancouver Rape Relief has

been operating without govern- . ment money since 1982. Funding ,

was revoked when Rape Relie refused to give data about the women who phoned the Crisis Line.

"They wanted the age, the

race, the address, the number of [

children, the number of times they had been raped [of the women who phoned]," Lorek said.

"It’s identifying data, even ina

large city like Vancouver. We |

asked them, ‘Why do you want t know all this data? We can give yo plenty of data about the rapists’,"

she said. "We have offered these |

women confidentiality, and we will not break their trust."

If you would like to assist Rape Relief in fundraising, crisis work, |

or other ways, contact them at 872- 8212.

professors" at Osgoode Hall. The group had lodged a complaint against the university with the On- tario Human Rights Commission two years ago after then- associate law dean Mary Jane Mossman was passed over for the tee ae of

‘Dean.

"How about some guarantees instead of just vague promises,’ says a third student.

Although copies of the report have been circulating at Osgoode and elsewhere, it has yet to be offi- cially released. The Employment Equity section is particularly hard to come by.

"Faculty Council’s actions aren’t surprising when viewed in

Engineers Set up Sexist Display at University of Toronto

By Krishna Rau and Clive Thompson

TORONTO (CUP) -- Univer- sity of Toronto engineering stu- dents are being called sexist -- again.

Civil engineering students put up a rope bridge over the a student cafeteria, with an inflatable female doll standing on it. The doll wore coveralls open to the waist, with its breasts clearly visible. A sign beneath read "Erected to Last."

The display was taken down after Sharon Clapp, a library tech- nician in the building complained to Engineering Dean Gary Heinke, and a campus paper.

"I was really quite offended," said Clapp. "And they wonder why people think they’re sexist. Con- sidering what women in engineer- ing have had to face lately with Montreal, it seems very ill-timed. Not that it would ever be well- timed."

Heinke said he thought en- gineers were getting too much coverage for their actions.

"Some student had a stupid

idea and put this up. We took it down. I don’t know what else there is to say."

Heinke ‘said the faculty does have a policy against offensive dis- plays in its buildings

"Of course we have a policy. With all the emphasis on this, I’m getting a bit tired. Things happen in life that should not happen. They happen in other faculties. It’s im- possible to be a policeman all the time."

Engineering student council president Cosetta Caporella, did not object to the display.

"I don’t think that it interferes with anyone’s academic life," she said. "If you’re intelligent enough to get into engineering, you can recognize a joke."

Sandra Rehm, a first year in- dustrial engineering student, didn’t mind the display.

"I guess because it doesn’t af- fect me, really, that it doesn’t bother me. And I’m not really a feminist, I don’t participate in things like that."

But, Anita Shrivastava, a

mechanical engineering student, was angered by the display.

"I think it’s pretty disgusting. There’s all this stuff going around about how engineers should be more sensitive. But, its obvious these people don’t care.

"Her top is non-existent. It might as well not be there."

J.C. St.-Amour, a male metal- lurgical engineering student, said he didn’t understand why the doll might be offensive.

light of the overall hostile environ- ment at Osgoode," says one female Osgoode student. "Mature women students get it pretty bad... people who are sensitive to racism and sexism get it pretty bad," she adds.

The report says the school’s

-atmosphere* alientates “and in- -

timidates women and visible minorities

"We are convinced that it is not rare for women (and, we believe, minority men) to feel maginalized,

photo by Tim Canniey Volunteers work on Rape Relief Phone Drive

York Law School "Alienates Women and Minorities" says Report

insulted or ignored..."

"It appears many faculty mem- bers are unaware that a problem exists at all.”

The report surveyed four Os- goode classes taught by female in- structors. It found 74 per cent of men’s hands were recognized and TT per cent ‘of Women’s.

While in eight classes taught by male instructors, 64 per cent of men’s hands were recognized, but only 39 per cent of women’s.

B.C. & Alberta Fight Transfer Payment Cuts

by Tod K. Maffin

NORTH VANCOUVER (CUP) -- British Columbia will not fight the federal transfer payment cuts alone.

Alberta recently announced it has decided to join B.C.’s court ac- tion against the federal govern- ment.

In last month’s federal budget, finance minister Michael Wilson cut several hundred million dollars from Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. Those funds, known as the Canada Assistance Plan, would have been used for social assistance and job-training.

British Columbia says by cut- ting those funds, Ottawa has broken an informal agreement with the provinces. :

Anti-French Group Sets

VICTORIA (CUP) -- Amidst protest and much debate, an out- spoken anti-French group managaed to get off a quick lecture at the University of Victoria Mar. Is

The Alliance for the Preserva- tion of English in Canada (APEC) is a national organization out to save the English language from what they consider its worst enemy

-- French.

UVic official Janet House said the group met its requirements for booking campus space.

"I felt there was no problem with that particular group to use (university) space," said House.

APEC has recently been ac- cused of spreading hate literature by the Franco-Ontario Teachers Association.

Alberta Attorney-General Ken Rostad said the federal government has acted in bad faith.

"The federal government... must consult with the other govern- ments or enact a termination of the agreement with a one-year notice and they did neither," Rostad said.

Rostad said B.C. will remain the main instigator of the suit, but Alberta and Ontario will be able to intervene and add to the legal argu- ments.

Alberta Treasurer Dick Johnstone estimates the cuts will cost his province about ten million dollars next year.

"It’s probably the first time provinces have been singled out for fiscal punishment and it’s time we took a stand."

up at UVic

The group claims that APEC was involved with production of a video in which author Jock Andrews says,"We need French Canada and French Canadians about as much as we need the AIDS virus."

APEC denies all knowledge of the tape and APEC director Bill Bolt says he’s sure they wouldn’t run it.