6 Comments
No Red Tape!
Earlier this evening, campus organization No Red Tape released a statement indicating the university’s cessation of enforcing the no-recording ban on issues of gender-based misconduct. The ban required students and advisors to sign a form stating that they would not record the Gender-based Misconduct process. Students who have violated the ban have not been disciplined, according to No Red Tape. Though the form continues to be distributed to students and advisors, it appears that it is no longer mandatory.
No Red Tape campaigned to end the no-recording ban. You can read their full statement below:
“We are thrilled to announce Columbia University has stopped forcing students and their advisors to sign a form stating they will not record the Gender-based Misconduct process. While the recording ban is still handed out to students, Columbia has declined to discipline students who openly violated the contract.
This change is due to the hard work of the students, faculty, and allies who supported the #RightToRecord campaign. To the 740+ people who signed the #RightToRecord petition, those who posted pictures online as part of the #RightToRecord hashtag campaign, those who attended the rally on October 28, and the survivors who bravely stepped forward and shared their stories, we thank you.
In particular, we want to acknowledge the organizations who endorsed our #RightToRecord petition: UAW Local 2110, UAW Local 2110-Barnard Contingent Faculty, UAW Local 2110-Graduate Workers of Columbia, Black Law Students Association, Columbia Divest for Climate Justice, Columbia Queer Alliance, Empowering Women of Color, Students for Justice in Palestine, International Socialist Organization, Latino/Latina Law Students Association, Take Back the Night, OutLaws, Mobilized African Diaspora, Divest Barnard, Columbia If/When/How, Columbia HeForShe, End Rape on Campus, Black Law Students Association-Northeastern Region, Our Harvard Can Do Better, Silence is Violence, and Sun Devils Against Assault.
There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done to address sexual and dating violence on campus. Survivors, particularly Black survivors and survivors of color, continue to face increased violence and discrimination. We are still committed to fighting for a 24/7 rape crisis center and Title IX enforcement, and will work tirelessly until every SAAFE campus demand is met. However, the success of the #RightToRecord campaign proves we have the power to help make Columbia SAAFE.”
Photo via Ally Hand for No Red Tape
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6 Comments
@anonymous how on earth is this an actual victory? “no longer enforced”– well, it was never enforced, it was a new policy that was put in place that No Red Tape defied. the fact that students who played their recordings of their meetings at NRT rallies were not punished doesn’t actually mean the policy isn’t in place or that it’s not a problem anymore. The school still obviously has the discretion to punish people whenever they feel the need to and they’re still forcing people involved in the process to sign. Not everybody who might need to share a recording will have a whole rally and activist campaign to back them up (especially if NRT is now declaring victory on this and washing their hands and going home) and under different circumstances where they knew it wasn’t likely to cause trouble and a flurry of spec op-eds the administration would ABSOLUTELY still punish those who violated the policy.
I stood by and defended NRT and their actions for a really long time but this sort of thing, the active spreading of misinformation about something that directly affects trauma survivors to make themselves look good, I can’t get behind it and I can’t excuse it. Not to mention that they’re still slandering existing resources and people whose job it is to help trauma survivors at the school to the point where I was scared to reach out for help when I was assaulted and it took months for me to actually go to the school and get the help I needed.
@Anonymous my experience with leftist organising around sexual violence is that they’re far more interested in getting the credit for fighting for abuse survivors than they are making sure their actions are actually beneficial. back in 2010 when i was involved in that scene there was a lot of emphasis on ‘accountability processes’ — ie eschewing the help of people who are actually trained to deal with this issue and instead outsourcing justice to a bunch of teenagers. the practical effect of this was pretty much Just shielding literal, actual rapists and making sure that activism — activism specifically around the issue of sexual violence, mind — included as many sex offenders as possible. i was kind of hoping things had improved in the past few years but i strongly advise any impressionable young people to steer clear of this kind of thing and please instead focus on supporting abuse survivors you know personally, and I promise you do know some personally. please do this even if it doesn’t grab headlines
@Anonymous Accused violate a policy, they are expelled. NRT violates a policy, everyone turns a blind eye. A little double standard here? It’s about time these groups abide by the rules of the university that everyone else has to.
@ummm there’s a huge difference between sexually assaulting somebody and violating a recording policy and I’m saying that as the OP of the comment that you’re responding to (track me if you don’t believe me) and i don’t want to hear this false equivalency shit especially piggybacking off of my personal experience with sexual assault and especially when there are a lot of other much better reasons to criticize NRT
@Anonymous If they didn’t punish NRT members for recording, any accused student could make a case for being unfairly discriminated against and would win. By not enforcing it against one student, they’ve legally committed to not enforcing it against any.
Also, word on the street is they no longer force people to sign it at all to begin with.
@Anonymous This is great news for the accused who had absolutely no recourse in these proceedings.