n October 29th, myself and my social justice group attended a student held rally at Colombia University. It was led by a handful of rape and sexual assault survivors  who wanted to bring awareness to the topic and make a difference. Around 175 students, faculty, reporters, survivors and ordinary pedestrians attended the event with pillows and mattresses in hand. This signified unity and power amongst the activists. Also, this is an awareness technique started by a survivor names Emma Sulkowits who was one of the leaders as well. On all of the bedding were one of three things. Either two pieces of red tape forming an “X”, the words “carry the weight” or multiple signatures showing that the society wants change.

The experience was so moving. Many survivors and activists spoke and truly inspired everyone in the crowd. There were all sorts of presentations like poems, speeches, chants and words to live by. One person who spoke particularly well was Public Advocate Letitia James. She refused to use the provided megaphone and her confident voice hit the crowd. One part of her speech especially hit me. She said “We refuse to just “Shake it Off” as Taylor Swift tells us. We will not back down and therefore make change in this corrupted society.”

Our Social Justice group was sitting on some of the mattresses close to the podium where the speakers spoke. We chanted, cheered, and made our voices heard. It was amazing to see that everyone who attended was so passionate about this topic. It started pouring rain but no one complained and the event kept moving accordingly. This was amazing to be around these kind of people. After the rally was over, the leaders brought all of the bedding to the President of Colombia University and placed it on his door step along with their demands for change. These were:

1. Prioritize the voices of survivors and activists in the development and implementation of Gender-Based Misconduct Policy.

2. Require comprehensive and program-appropriate prevention education for all students at least once per semester that will include but not be limited to in-person workshops.

3. Remove deans from decision making roles in the disciplinary process.

4. Treat cases of sexual and domestic violence with appropriately severe sanctions.

5. Guarantee that students who need to withdraw or take a temporary leave of absence because of their experiences of sexual or domestic violence have their financial aid packages protected and are fully reimbursed for any lost tuition.

6. Institute a mandatory and comprehensive review of the Gender-Based Misconduct Policy every two years which directly involves the concerns of students and survivors on campus, beginning this year.

7. Create an online evaluation form for every student who makes a formal report, and every complainant and respondent in a gender-based misconduct case to fill out after the completion of their case with the Office of Gender-Based Misconduct, the results of which must be sent to PACSA.

8. Ensure that all formal reports of violence or gender-based misconduct made against the same respondent are admissible evidence, including in concurrent cases or cases with a non-responsible finding.

9. Implement a formal accommodations system, including a written explanation regarding the approval or denial of any request.

10. The investigation and adjudication process of the sexual assault report made by Emma Sulkowicz against Jean-Paul Nungesser was grossly mishandled. An alleged serial perpetrator remains on our campus and presents an ongoing threat to the community. Given these facts, we demand you re-open this case and evaluate it under the newly revised policy.

This experience was truly inspiring and taught us a lot about or topic.