Content warning: the following article discusses sexual assault, rape, lynching, and violence.
The month of April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The month exists to centre survivors of sexual assault and rape, and bring attention to the insidious ways sexual violence penetrates and permeates our circles, communities, and society. The month is first and foremost about those of us who have experienced assault: our stories, our trauma, and our autonomy.
The Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) decided to take advantage of this April to perform mock lynchings of effigies labeled “RAPIST”. This was coupled with a banner reading “Support Survivors not Rapists” and encouragement from TCDSU’s Welfare and Equality Officer, Hamza Bana, to “do whatever they [people] want to the body.” This was joined by a directive from President Jenny Maguire’s public Instagram (which was collaborated with the post from the TCDSU) to “Take justice into your own hands.” The first action was at the Arts Block (on 2nd April), the second at the Hamilton Building (3rd April), and the latest has been the Junior Dean’s Office (4th April).
This protest represents the most reckless, counterproductive, and pernicious action from the TCDSU in recent history.
A core tenet of recovery from sexual violence is reminding survivors that they have a choice because acts of sexual violence are exercises of power stripping survivors of choice. Survivors heal when their self-determination is honoured and consistently confirmed. Giving survivors the right to decide how and when to tell their stories and empowering survivors with the right to have a voice in the appropriate handling of the aftermath are paramount to honouring them.The opportunity to give survivors those choices is unique to a college environment. TCDSU has, instead, enforced a narrative that violence and retribution by any means is the preferred form of reprisal for survivors. This is unacceptable.
Surviving assault is one of the bravest and most painful possibilities of human experience. One in five women will experience it in their lifetimes. The particularity to surviving assault has been completely undermined by the actions of TCDSU. The academic, psychological, and political consensus of experts in sexual trauma is that survivors come first. We as members of a university like Trinity are in the privileged position of understanding that we owe survivors things like content warnings, empathy, and active listening. The actions of TCDSU completely undermine that.
The action was disturbing and triggering to many survivors on campus. The level of carelessness and irresponsibility of this action is almost unfathomable. The reality of harm to a survivor walking in a public space on campus (like the Arts Block), met with the word “RAPIST” on a hanging body being beaten with a baseball bat is obvious. This level of disregard makes it that much harder for survivors to come forward.
On a broader level, the platforming of lynching is obscene. The history of lynching is blatantly racist. Anyone who sat the Leaving Certificate History exam knows about Emmett Till, and even still, to be ignorant of the legacy of lynching is an indictment in itself.
The promotion of mob justice and execution is abhorrent. The protest glorifies violence and mirrors the punitive approaches of fascism. Anna Kollár’s comment for Trinity News deals more specifically with this aspect of the protest and explicates this point well: “Carceral feminism, the belief that women’s liberation can be achieved through mass incarceration and retribution, is a dead-end approach to gendered violence.”
Not only was the protest harmful, but it was useless. TCDSU has not provided any practical demands. TCDSU’s Instagram post of the action only stipulates “[It’s time to] call for a complete overhaul of the sexual misconduct policy both on our Campus and in our Irish Legislation.” In a presumably more specific email to the Provost, Bana demanded the following of the sexual misconduct policy and Trinity’s Dignity, Respect, and Consent Service (DRC) on behalf of the TCDSU:
A complete overhaul of the Sexual Misconduct policy which prioritises the well-being of the survivors of Sexual Violence.
A reform of the manner in which bullying allegations related to Sexual Misconduct are handled.
A removal of any and all delays throughout the investigation process with greater transparency between all parties as to which stage the investigation is in.
All this relays is “complete overhaul”, a seemingly opposing and equally unspecific “reform”, a vague “removal of any and all delays” with “greater transparency”. None of these are actionable, and the email ends with “We look forward to working with the College and Junior Dean to work on specifics of the new policy.” This is ironic, considering TCDSU immediately escalated to mock-extrajudicial killing in the Junior Dean’s office. The feasibility of TCDSU’s collaboration with the college after these protests is tenuous at best and impossible at worst.
The Junior Dean’s Office protest was an escalation, involving signs asking students to “Tell us what you think of rapists”, with statements like “Remove their reproductive organs” and “BURN IN HELL” written as responses.
The authors of the notes did not know they’d be publicly displayed. This betrayal was called an “oversight” by Bana to Trinity News. TCDSU’s Gender Equality Officer, Amy Kennedy, called this failure to survivors “a gross violation of people’s trust in the union”. She added, “It has not been communicated effectively what the goal of the protest is. The majority of the student body doesn’t know why it was done, and it is therefore not effective.”
Kennedy elaborated that not only is the student body in the dark, but most of the Union is too. As TCDSU Gender Equality Officer, Kennedy said “All we discussed was that poster [referring to the “Support Survivors not Rapists” banner]. That campaign group chat went silent a month ago. Then the effigies appeared.” She elaborated “Most of the casework that goes through Gender Equality is about sexual assault and rape. It makes no sense not to have the relevant officers included. I don’t know why. No one has told me. It makes no sense.” Kennedy continued “This is such a sensitive topic. It should go through due process and multiple layers of consultation.”
The minutes for Union Forum (UF) six and seven confirm this. In UF 6, President Jenny Maguire raised issues with the DRC and suggested printing out stickers to encourage students to put a sticker on their abusers. The idea was discussed, and then “directed [to] the Welfare and Equality Officer to work with a group on this issue.” This, of course, culminated in the effigy campaign. Ents Officer Peadar Walsh, who declined to comment, was the only one to advocate for “come[ing] up with a draft version of what we would like to see the DRC be able to do.”
This, ostensibly, was ignored. In UF seven, members were told there was “Concern re members speaking to the press, urge[-ing them] not to do so, particularly when in camera. Be sound. Encourage participation with Hamza’s group.” “Hamza’s group” refers to the effigy campaign.
James Murphy, who sits on UF as the Mature Student Officer 24/25 said of the protest “This absolutely boneheaded work of slacktivism is the culmination of a year of emotional gaslighting and entrenched groupthink.” He continued, stating that the “sole responsibility for this ‘action’ lies with the president.” “We weren’t even consulted on this matter as the president asserted that she had no duty to keep us informed of campaign committee matters.”
Moreover, a source close to the sabbatical officers said that there was opposition from more than one SU sabbatical officer on the action in an SU meeting.
This protest has been met with mass criticism, and the response of the SU has been to double, and then triple down. The SU may offer an apology, but that opportunity has come and passed. Survivors are not an oversight. There is evidently something fundamentally wrong with the way the SU does campaigns and treats its officers that allowed this to happen. TCDSU has failed survivors. TCDSU has failed its members. TCDSU has failed its officers. TCDSU has failed every student. This will forever represent a stain on the legacy of the union.
This Sexual Assault Awareness Month, support your friends and family. Support those in your life who have endured the trauma of sexual violence. Most importantly, listen. Survivors are not a monolith, and we deserve choices, kindness, and a voice.
If you have been effected by the matters brought up in this article you may contact: Dublin Rape Crisis Helpline: 1800 77 8888
www.drcc.ie
(24-hour freephone)
TCDSU has been contacted for comment.
