Imperial College, rape culture and what to do about going to Picocon?

[major_clanger]

On Friday the newspaper of Imperial College Union, Felix, published a 'humour' piece. That article apparently never appeared in the online edition - which now leads with an apology for it - but you can see a picture of it here. As the Telegraph puts it,

Cook up Rohypnol to get laid, student paper jokes

I am disgusted with this, and I'm not alone, as this post and this post from my f-lists make clear. I will be writing not only to the ICU President but also to the Rector and the head of alumni relations to express my extreme displeasure and ask what measures are being taken to punish those responsible for this piece and to ensure that such material is never published in Felix again.

But I now have another problem. Next weekend is Picocon, the annual mini-convention of IC Science Fiction Society. My first Picocon was in 1987 and I was looking forward to my 25th anniversary of what was in fact my first convention and to meeting many of my friends there. But Picocon is held at Imperial College Union and the social side of it centres on the student bar at ICU.

I appreciate that ICSF, whilst part of ICU, cannot be held responsible for what Felix does. And the membership fee for Picocon will be spent in ways that benefit ICSF and its members (funding the guest, triciasullivan and buying books for the ISCF library) rather than going to ICU. But ICU will benefit from the use of the bar by attendees at Picocon. It doesn't seem right to me to take on ICU for its misconduct and then help boost its bar profits.

Looked at like that, the solution seems fairly clear. Having discussed the matter with darth_hamster, who shares my views, we will attend Picocon, albeit with rather uncomfortable feelings as to the venue. But we won't buy anything to eat or drink from ICU. We will either invite friends to join us in one of the local pubs (the Queen's Arms is a likely choice) or, if we are in the student bar at any point, we will drink only tap water.

Comments

[purplecthulhu]

As I'm sure you're aware, ICU has no editorial control over Felix so cannot be held responsible for the article. ICU's actions subsequent to the publication are what they should be judged by, and those we have to await.

To be honest, I think more people have read this article outside College than inside - not that this excuses anything, but this was news to me in spite of doing my usual glance through Felix on a Friday lunchtime.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Good idea but I would strongly suggest a public statement to that effect - maybe some text that you can print out and hand in at the bar saying "I am not spending money at the ICSU bar today in protest against X - if the situation is dealt with satisfactorily I will probably do so next year". You wouldn't want some short sighted SU president saying "well we didn't make any money out of PICOCON last year and we've had a better offer for mid-February so we won't let them do it again"

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

(not an issue for us because yet again we're booked up for that weekend which is a pity, because we're not allowed in the ICSU bar, and if people were congregating in an alternative pub we might be able to join them for once)

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

While it's an abhorrent peice, as you, yourself say the ICU have apologised for it and given the normal paths of editoral independance in Student papers I'm not sure what else you can expect to get from them.

I would imagine Felix is a fairly separate entity from the SU ents team and the bar, so while I would happily agree with running the writer of the peice and the magazine editor up a flag pole (or even - as seems right and proper for picocon - subject them to extreame torture with frozen fish) i'm not sure boycotting the SU bar is really a correct response and really more a case of penalising your selves rather then the people responsible.

As someone who was quite active in the SU entertainment crew at my college (who also manned and ran the bar) I know I would be mightly pissed off I got blamed for some so called 'Satire' peice in the student paper, which spent most of its time bashing the SU bar anyway...

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Felix and the ICU bar are both part of ICU. If the ICU bar management feel aggrieved, then they should direct their annoyance upwards to the ICU executive and ask what is going to be done about Felix.

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

I believe our host is erring on the side of generosity in referring to it as an apology: I set it out in full below, with my annotations in bold:

"In this week’s Felix, an article was published [Holy Virgin, another miracle! An article just appears in the publication without the hand of man or God being involved, apparently ] which had been intended to take a satirical look at the dating practices [Wot, actual practices? Misuse of college resources, patent infringement, offences contrary to s.61 of the Sexual Offences Act, rape....- wouldn't a searing expose or perhaps a few words with the South Ken branch of the Met have been more appropriate than satire?] of Imperial students. We recognise that the content of the article was completely inappropriate, and offer an unreserved apology for any offence caused [That is, for the result of the article, not the article itself. The article will not appear in the online version. We fully accept that this material has no place within the pages of Felix."

Personally, I applaud major_clanger's strategy. In my own place I shall be speaking to our head of graduate recruitment on Monday and suggesting that we look askance at any applications from current Imperial College students to the vacation student placement scheme.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I'd already decided not to go to Picocon, but I'd have thought twice about attending after reading your post.

A similarly offensive piece in the UEA student magazine (Phoenix) led to the university taking disciplinary action against the magazine's editorial team. And that was in the 1980s.

If I were a female student at ICU, I would be seeking legal advice. And I wouldn't feel safe knowing that one (or more) of my fellow students thought this was amusing and appropriate behaviour.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Yes, I'm with T on this.
My experience tells me that institutions that have a heavily male profile seem to find it harder and take longer to address this, too.

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

Is there an additional action you want them to do by way of appology? Because otherwise am economic boycott seems odd to me?

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

To make it clear, the boycott is a personal matter that reconciles my anger with ICU with my wish to attend an event held at ICU. It allows me to go to Picocon without feeling that I am benefiting ICU.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

LJ ate my comment. But:
- wasn't going to Picocon anyway: otherwise, would be thinking twice after reading this post.
- UEA student magazine's editorial team were subject of disciplinary action in the 1980s for publishing something similar.
- if I were a female ICU student I would be seeking legal advice and being very uncomfortable about one or more of my fellow students thinking this was amusing / appropriate behaviour.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

okay, it didn't eat previous comment, it just said it had ...

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

also, that apology is rather weaselly. It seems to be apologising for causing offence, rather than for publishing the piece in the first place.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

As I said elsewhere:

As I'm sure you're aware, ICU has no editorial control over Felix so cannot be held responsible for the article. ICU's actions subsequent to the publication are what they should be judged by, and those we have to await.

To be honest, I think more people have read this article outside College than inside - not that this excuses anything, but this was news to me in spite of doing my usual glance through Felix on a Friday lunchtime.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Is it right for Felix to have editorial independence?

If Felix rightly has editorial independence, how should that be rightly monitored & appropriately subjected to sanction?

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I would say this: ICU should not be able to tell Felix what or what not it can print. But that is a separate issue from the one of whether students who publish material in Felix should be held responsible for it, or even whether the editor of Felix should be subject to sanction if he or she allows publication which is unlawful, defamatory or grossly offensive.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

This is not the Sun, it's a bunch of students. Being students means learning things. With luck, they've learned something.

But I'd rather distribute some leaflets around the bar from Rape Crisis than punish the ICU for something they had no control over.

But not going to object to going elsewhere. Look forward to seeing you.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

As I've tried to explain up-thread, I'm not trying to punish ICU by boycotting the bar. Rather, I am trying to find a way of reconciling my wish to attend Picocon with my anger at ICU, and it seems to me that avoiding doing anything at Picocon other than purely attending the event allows me to do that.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Has the Felix editor been sacked and barred from all roles within the SU? Has the author of the piece been sent down (drastic I know, but not insane in the circs)

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

In fairness, there needs to be due process and there has hardly been time for that yet. But I would like to hear from both ICU and Imperial College that such process has begun. This really isn't a matter that can be waved away via a half-hearted apology.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I will be attending Picocon and will be discussing with current students why they should not just accept this sort of behaviour.

I don't see spending money in the union bar as hypocritical. The union for most is not an optional thing they can take or leave. This is the only union they have. If they fuck up then it is up to all members of the union (I am still one though I've lost my card) to improve matters, rather than walk away.

But of course it is your choice to not give them your money for whatever reason.

Imperial always had a problem with a high proportion of male to female students. This is an issue everyone at college should be interested in, and talk about.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

It's the week for it, it seems. The UniLad wesbite has closed itself, too, after an article that seemed to endorse rape. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/12/uni-lad-website-closure-banter). I have no solutions to this: it appears whatever we do, some young men just will not grasp that rape is a crime.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

They may or may not grasp or care that it's a crime - after all, stealing road cones is a crime which generations of students have traditionally treated as an entertaining hobby, ditto smoking dope and not paying your TV licence.
It's the fact that it's utterly morally abhorrent behaviour that seems to escape them.

[a-cubed.livejournal.com]

Student papers have, and must have, editorial independence from the Union, otherwise they're useless at holding either the Union or the University to account on student issues, which they do on their best days.
On their worst days this sort of crap happens. However, given their editorial independence and the action taken already by ICU I think that taking further action at this point is probably overkill. But, you must follow your own conscience.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

There seems to be an interesting dichotomy between those of us actively working in universities (myself, fjm and a_cubed and those who are not.

Is this because we see people 18-21 being prats all the time and know how common it is, or have we become inured to the monsters in our midst?

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

Is this because we see people 18-21 being prats all the time and know how common it is, or have we become inured to the monsters in our midst?

A bit of both, I think.

I can't imagine anything of the sort getting published in my old student newspaper though even in the unreconstructed 1980s -the Cambridge system of insisting that every student society has a faculty sponsor/adviser has a lot to recommend it .

I do think that it's progress that people are shocked and angry rather than just saying "boys will be boys".

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

Why I don't think it's a particularly funny thing to laugh and joke about, these students are far from the first people to make such jokes - here's an example of some established comedians on the BBC doing so:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3606432026798157466 (starts at 1 minute 15)

I somewhat doubt that the people involved were in any way serious about it actually being a look at current dating practises, and they're clearly in no doubt now that their readership, and beyond, have a big issue with it. As others have said, they are likely to have learned from this. I'm not sure that boycotting any other part of the ICU is helpful given that the perpetrators were the writer and the editor. Would you refuse have lunch with me at my work canteen because my employer commissioned this Armstrong and Miller sketch?

[pashazade.livejournal.com]

Just to say that I've now locked the post you linked to. If anyone wants to see it whose not on my flist, they should comment on a open post and I'll add them. (Well, so long as I don't look at their profile and it's all Down With The Feminazis!)

[ex-triciasu.livejournal.com]

Good grief, this is the first I've seen of this. WTF.

Justina Robson and Adrian Czajkowski are going to be there too, btw.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Oops - sorry to miss Justina and Adrian out! I was mindful that you were a guest because of course I've seen you posting about it...

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

We are talking about the former employer of Professor Eric Laithwaite (sexist pig par excellence here) - they'll probably want to give the editor an award.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Prof Laithwaite had retired by the time I arrived at Imperial's Electrical Engineering department; are you referring to conduct of his within Imperial or outside?

My only experience of the man was a talk he gave to the physics society as a visiting lecturer. He caused a degree of outraged astonishment, but that was by explaining that the vector cross product was wrong and his version was better.

[hano.livejournal.com]

Then there's this: http://felixonline.co.uk/comment/2167/sexism-at-imperial-college/ - an article by a male student decrying the misogyny and sexism rampant at IC printed in the same issue as the Hangman piece. The comments are... enlightening. Yes really.

Comments

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

I think my brain broke at this one:

My point is, not all misogyny is malicious, and some forms have to be tolerated to allow for an equal society.