Because of Post editorial concerns that printing my column about rape culture and social justice issues would demonstrate a bias toward the Restart Party — with which I am running as an at-large senator — Hope for Humanity has been discontinued. The Post was very right to do this, because I am very biased. I respect the members of the Restart ticket deeply, having learned a great deal about social justice from the Student Union during my time at Ohio University.
I am particularly impressed by the commitment that Restart candidates have made to ending rape culture on campus, the way I’ve seen these students both out in the streets and in Baker Center administrative offices trying to make this campus more responsive to the needs of students. I love that all three of Restart’s executive candidates are women, rather than Student Senate parties’ traditional formula of an alpha male president, token “Senate mom” (as former senators have told me the vice president informally functions) and money-man treasurer. On a campus where High Fest this weekend featured a “YES=YES NO=ANAL” banner, Restart candidates are already leaders advocating for necessary change.
For me, looking to Student Senate for this kind of student leadership has always been an exercise in disappointment. This year alone, I’ve seen Student Senate fail me and those who care about sexual violence multiple times. I sat in on a meeting where senators suggested that former President Nick Southall’s slut-shaming tweet was just a minor issue that feminists were making too much of, that by even voicing our concerns we were airing dirty laundry that should be kept within the “Bobcat family.” I watched Empowering Women of Ohio Week organizers file uFUND request forms six weeks early to offset the costs of hosting an amazing array of activists and intellectuals, only for Student Senate to mysteriously lose the application.
I’ve shadowed Allie and Claire of F-ckRapeCulture while they presented to Student Senate about consent, only to read feedback forms that denied any value had come from our message because hearing two lesbians speak had been “too intimidating.”
As a Survivor Advocacy Program peer advocate in training, an outspoken F-ckRapeCulture member, a rape survivor, a die-hard feminist, and a student who walks home to Mill Street’s sexist shenanigans every night, I believe this campus has to change.
Voting for a Student Senate party committed to combating rape culture will not magically fix everything overnight, but it’s a damn good start. And honestly, Student Senate has been in need of a Restart for a very long time.
Bekki Wyss is a junior studying English literature, a candidate for an at-large Student Senate position on the Restart ticket and a former columnist for The Post.
