“More action than a boob-grope.” That’s how
the Campus Events Commission described itself on fliers posted
around campus earlier this week. Now we’ve found two more
words to describe the commission: “distasteful” and
“inappropriate.”
Ostensibly, the fliers ““ a copy of which we’ve
printed below ““ were advertisements for a free sneak of the
movie “Unknown White Male,” which aired on campus
Tuesday with the commission’s sponsorship. But the
advertisement is only half the flier.
The other half is the aforementioned tagline about inappropriate
touching, paired with the police sketch of the suspect who has
allegedly grabbed the breasts of at least seven women in Westwood
since mid-December. The sexual batteries drew TV news crews to
Westwood, and police have yet to apprehend any suspects.
As far as branches of the Undergraduate Students Association
Council go, Campus Events is probably the most popular. Everyone
loves it when the commission brings free movie screenings to
Ackerman, or groups like The Roots to campus for exclusive
concerts.
This is why we’re disappointed that the commission would
show such careless disregard for students ““ especially those
who have been sexually harassed ““ and such poor judgment by
posting these fliers.
By using an official police sketch to advertise a film, Campus
Events is trivializing an ongoing investigation that has made some
people (women in particular) feel genuinely scared for their
safety. But ironically, that’s the tamer part of the flier.
What really baffled us was the flier’s tagline.
Making fun of a “boob-grope” (as the flier’s
author so delicately put it) might sound hilarious. But consider
this: Sexual batteries can be emotionally damaging. Victims can
feel a range of emotions from fear to anger, lose their sense of
security and even blame themselves for what happened, according to
the UCLA Center for Women and Men. And, given that one sexual
battery which occurred in mid-December wasn’t reported for a
month, there’s a chance some victims still have not come
forward. We sincerely doubt this flier will do anything to help
them.
Furthermore, the flier carries two seals besides that of Campus
Events: one from the undergraduate student government, and one from
Associated Students UCLA. If you’re a UCLA undergraduate, you
pay fees to both. Have you ever wondered where your money’s
going? Now you know.
Obviously, the people at Campus Events didn’t find this
flier offensive enough to not hang up. And who knows? Maybe they
still don’t. They’re certainly entitled to their
opinion. But what seems to have escaped them is that when they
posted this, they weren’t speaking just for themselves. They
were speaking for student government. In some ways, they were
speaking for all of us.
And so we ask Campus Events: Is this really how you want to
represent UCLA students? Is this how you show students how much you
care about them?
What may sound like a funny joke among a group of friends
isn’t funny when it’s in front of 25,000 people.