The names of alleged sexual-abuse perpetrators were inscribed on seven student-designed T-shirts on Thursday to protest the University Health Center's ban of names in the annual Clothesline Project.
A group of dissenting students organized its own unsponsored event after the university banned students last week from writing the names of their alleged attackers onto the displayed clothing. The protesters' shirts hung from trees that overlooked the university-sanctioned sexual assault awareness area on Hornbake Mall.
"We believe that every survivor deserves a voice and should be able to express themselves however they want," said senior Maxine Norcross, a project organizer who joined the protest. "We're not going to change our stance on that and be intimidated by administration."
Health Center Director Sacared Bodison told students they could not display the seven shirts featured in the protest because the university feared the accused attackers could sue the university for defamation of character.
The protest also included 10 plain T-shirts that represented shirts banned by the Health Center because they featured an attacker's name. The students who created the shirts did not grant the protesters permission to display the actual shirts, said Miranda Vargas, a senior Women's Studies major.
The university-sanctioned project featured at least one shirt critical of the university's policy.
"UHC really dropped the ball," a shirt read.
Health Center officials said they had no problem with the students practicing their freedom of speech as long as the students' demonstration was kept separate from the university's project.
"Individual students can freely exercise their rights," Bodison said. "They would be personally responsible for any liability, but that is up to them. So they have freedom of choice."
Students said the threat of a lawsuit would not deter them.
"I'm not afraid at all," Vargas said. "My thinking on that is for someone whose name is written on the shirt, if they want to bring a lawsuit against us, they have to prove that they did not rape the women. That is not going to happen."
In the future, Norcross, a physiology and neurobiology major, hopes the university will incorporate the shirts with names into the original project. Organizers are now attempting to raise student support for a petition that calls for the university to change its policy.
If all else fails, Vargas insists the separate project will be held again next year.
"What was most important to me was getting the most voices heard," Vargas said. "The real tragedy is that we did not get to hang all the shirts. Women who hung shirts deserve to have their stories told."
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