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    BabyGotFrontAnna Merlan
    2/23/15 11:02am

    I am 100% on the side of No Red Tape in terms of their objectives. But why would they think that there wouldn't be consequences to their actions? Did they think the administration would high-five them for interrupting admissions sessions? I hope this letter is just P.R. and that they are savvy enough to be thinking at least 2 steps ahead of every action... I assume (hope) that their org has good pro bono legal representation.

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      YASSSS666BabyGotFront
      2/23/15 11:06am

      Well if there are no consequences for their rapists...why not think there are no consequences for this?

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      BabyGotFrontYASSSS666
      2/23/15 11:14am

      I hope that they are not as naive as they are projecting. Projecting naïveté as a PR strategy could work in their favor. But if they really are surprised that the university is coming down hard on them for interrupting admissions sessions (with tuition-paying parents in the room) then I am worried about the vitality of the organization. I hope that a women's rights focused legal org is helping these young women strategize and not get kicked out of school.

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    Yes1232Anna Merlan
    2/23/15 12:08pm

    This is a good example of the issue that I have with many of you people: even though their conduct was in violation of rules set in place with good purpose, because they claim to violate those rules in the name of some social justice issue, not only do you (1) sanction their violation, but you (2) conflate the valid response to their rule violation with a criticism of the social justice issue in the name of which they violated the rules.

    The distinction between the social justice issue and the rule violation is not such a fine one that you should not be able to make it. I assume that most of you haven't recognized it, and those that have choose to ignore it.

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      ZuiyoMaruYes1232
      2/23/15 12:48pm
      GIF
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      ZuiyoMaruYes1232
      2/23/15 12:54pm

      More seriously, though, effective change requires more than just holding up a picket sign and demanding change. Most individuals or institutions won't change unless they have a very real pressure or interest in doing so. By targeting an admissions meeting specifically, the protesters are making it clear to the people who might end up paying the University for their children to attend that it has a very real rape problem, which affects Columbia's bottom line, and is real incentive to correct the problem. If simple awareness were enough to affect change, the world would be a much better place, but direct action is often required.

      Most of "us people" will draw the line at using violence to affect change, though there are exceptions to that as well. The version of protest that you seem to want is ineffective and won't accomplish anything - this kind of protesting has a chance of actually affecting things.

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    benjaminalloverAnna Merlan
    2/23/15 10:58am

    ... and that they let rapists be RAs and TAs.

    WHAT? All of Columbia's handling of the issue is disturbing, but this? Are you fucking kidding me?

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      goldenraeAnna Merlan
      2/23/15 11:03am

      Standard charge letter from the conduct office.

      The current Title IX standards mean that if a student comes forward as having been involved with non-consensual sexual activity the school should not pursue any code violations that occurred during that episode.

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        GogogadgetanythingAnna Merlan
        2/23/15 11:01am

        "the University does not want prospective students to know that they have implemented unacceptably weak prevention programs"

        Crazy question here. If you're intelligent enough student to have fantastic grades and high SAT score aren't you also intelligent enough to do research of those prospective school you might want to apply to to find out everything about crime in and around the school, not just how trash you can get on campus? Don't parents who might be spending a good chunk of their retirement funds on their kids education also want to find out what they're buying when they send their precious Sally off?

        Or is it just simply students who are very book smart but not very street smart that go blithely to any Ivy that will accept them? Rape rep be damned.

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          upperliphairGogogadgetanything
          2/23/15 11:15am

          Wait, are you under the assumption that this is only a problem for some schools? LOL.

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          andthenshewaslikeGogogadgetanything
          2/23/15 11:29am

          University administrators do everything they can to minimize and massage what they are obligated to report. It can be very difficult to really know what is happening on a campus from the outside.

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        HermioneStrangerAnna Merlan
        2/23/15 12:00pm

        they continue to hand down short suspensions to students found responsible for gender-based violence...We do not want them to know what it feels like to have their case dismissed and their needs ignored because the administration believes that rape can only occur between a man and a woman.

        What is going on here? In one sentence, they're positing rape as "gender-based" and thus not only more likely to be a man raping a woman, but also more harmful when it's a man raping a woman than any other gender combination. Later, they're berating the administration for not being more inclusive of non-traditional rape pairings. But the administration will never be inclusive of anything other than male-on-female rape if the paradigm they're being told to shift to only has meaningful inclusion for male-on-female rape.

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          My dear, sweet brother Numsie!Anna Merlan
          2/23/15 11:06am
          GIF

          I feel like I've been taking too many Crazy Pills lately.

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            KeevaSAnna Merlan
            2/23/15 11:08am

            Apparently the rules against protesting the administration at Columbia are way more important than the rules against rape.

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              PeanutbutteryouupAnna Merlan
              2/23/15 11:23am

              cc-oja@columbia.edu

              http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/judicialaffair...

              212-854-6872

              Just gonna leave this here

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                TORITOOOOAnna Merlan
                2/23/15 11:02am

                Maybe if Columbia got their heads out of their ass on the subject, the protests wouldn't have happened in the first place??

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