Features
Dancing Away Hate
Joan Gardner is World Powerlifting Champion
Dancing
Away Hate
UVM Students Protest Violence on Campus
by Lynn McNicol
BURLINGTON
— It was a sobering moment in the high energy, dance-and-music-filled
rally at the Waterman building steps at UVM.
Jakob Vanlammeren stepped up to the
mike to speak - but not for himself. The UVM graduate spoke on behalf
of a student who felt, for safety’s sake, unable to speak openly
about her identity.
“She is feeling racism on campus,”
he said of his friend. The crowd cheered for Jakob and the unnamed student.
At least half a dozen spoke to the
thirty or so people who braved chilly April winds to let it be known they
will not tolerate hatred on campus. Music blared from a boombox, demonstrators
readied signs and waved at passing cars whose drivers honked in support.
The rally was organized by “Hate
Is,” a coalition of several UVM student organizations. Organizer
Ashley Orenberg said students are concerned about the rise in reported
incidents of bias against LGBT students. She also noted the increase in
sexual assault and rape against women as well as racist stickers found
on campus.
“We don’t like hate on our campus,”
said Lindsey Carfagna, another rally organizer. “Hate is here and
hate is not a UVM value.”
Rachel Rosenberg, a freshman and president-elect
of Free to Be, a GLBTA student group, said students who demonstrated on
the recent Day of Silence were harassed by other students.
“Some of us were outside the
library lying down with signs on us,” Rosenberg described the demonstration.
“We were called ‘faggots.’” In another incident,
a student blocked the doorway to a classroom so she couldn’t leave.
The annual Day of Silence is a nationwide
event protesting the silencing of LGBT high school and college students
because of the harassment and violence directed at them.
“Every night I go out, I make sure
I have someone with me because I could be beaten,” Rosenberg said.
“I did not come here to fear and none of you did.” She said
she received her first death threat on the UVM campus.
Phillip Ortego, representing the group
Men Advocating Change, pointed out that racist and sexist language is
used every day in the community and in the media. Rape and other incidents
of violence on campus are not simply caused by the actions of the individuals,
he said, but also by the wider messages taught boys from an early age
about “what it means to be a man.”
“I want an education and a safe
community,” said Emily Franz, president of the Feminist Majority
Leadership Alliance and a self described “hard-core feminist.”
She noted the separation of minority groups within the UVM community,
such as ALANA (for African, Latino/a, Asian and Native American students),
and emphasized that all students have much in common.
“Our struggle is really
pretty much the same,” she said. Rachel Mazer said religion is a
topic that people don’t like to bring up but should be included
in the discussion. She said her friend, an Israeli advocacy intern, had
put some fliers up outside the library one day, and when he left the fliers
had all been pulled down.
Sam Maron, representing the Student
Labor Action Project, which has been working to gain livable wages for
UVM employees, said UVM is rated one of the top 25 universities in the
country, but he disagrees with that rating. The news organizations doing
the rating don’t take into account the incidents of violence and
harassment, workers’ and other issues, he said.
“I’m in awe of the students
pulling this together,” said Dot Brauer, director of LGBTQA services
at UVM. She said people get confusedabout what a leader is, and that history
teaches that leaders are people who make war and oppress people.
“People who inspire us don’t
hate. They inspire us by talking about love,” Brauer said.
“They’re
not the ones who make it to the front of the pack.” Towards
the end of the rally, Rosenberg asked if everyone who wanted to address
the crowd had spoken. “If nobody else wants to speak, then let’s
have a dance party. Because we can dance away hate.”