“RAPE HAPPENS AT WIJNHAVEN” reads one of the painted protest signs of the 150 angry students who have gathered in The Hague.
‘What happened? Was someone raped at the university?’ a male passer-by asks in alarm. His friend reassures him by saying: ‘No, it’s just that a support group for victims of sexual violence was disbanded.’
According to Zonne Groenberg, that is exactly why the protest this Thursday afternoon is so fundamentally important. ‘There is simply too little awareness.’ Like many others present, the security studies student read about the ‘sit-in’ on Instagram. ‘I have plenty of male friends who are completely unaware of sexual harassment. They have never experienced anything like that and they probably won’t.’
TERMINATION OF SUPPORT GROUP
The demonstration at Wijnhaven revolves around the support group CARE, or rather, its disbandment by Leiden University last June. The idea was introduced at the beginning of the previous academic year: a support group for victims of sexual violence, under the guidance of two psychologists. However, only three months after its start, the group received bad news.
That is why a group of angry students is now occupying the Spanish Steps of the Wijnhaven building. ‘We were told there was not enough money, so in the future, the group would have to meet monthly instead of weekly’, says the organiser of the protest campaign A Survivor at Leiden, who wishes to remain anonymous. Until recently, she herself was a frequent visitor to the CARE support group. ‘In June, the programme was cancelled completely out of the blue.’
According to her, the financial argument does not hold water. ‘If the university is able to give financial support to associations such as Minerva, the least they could do is invest in our mental health as well.’
Even though Groenberg is still busy preparing the next day's lectures on her laptop, she had to be present today. 'We are here to study. There have to be measures in place in case something happens to you, so you know you are protected.'
The university plays a crucial role in that protection, agrees Corentine Le Goff, student international relations. 'A support group is important because you have something to fall back on. Every university has a duty of care towards its students.'
PREVENTION
University campaigns and, for example, participation in global actions such as Orange the World (which involves lighting up buildings in orange to draw attention to violence against women) are not enough for Le Goff. ‘Prevention is one thing, but the university also has to be there for the victims. It’s not like sexual violence suddenly disappears by taking preventative action.’
But even in terms of prevention, the university is not doing enough, says the organiser of the event who is loudly addressing the crowd.
‘They promised us that, instead of investing in CARE, they would invest in alternative measures, but so far, we have seen literally nothing of this. In Amsterdam, there are as many as four support groups. Leiden should take a leaf out of their book.’
Other speakers followed, such as Red from The Feminist Club Amsterdam: ‘The patriarchal institutions complicate the path to recovery, so never stop fighting the patriarchy. Bring back CARE!’
The crowd begins to shout: ‘BRING BACK CARE! BRING BACK CARE! BRING BACK CARE!’
The two guards behind the reception desk are looking on with concern. It was supposed to be a silent sit-in at the Spanish Steps, right?
The dispute about CARE has been fraught with miscommunication so far, according to Martino, the treasurer of The Hague Union of Students. ‘The university told us that we were not allowed to use megaphones but that speeches in “normal voice volume” would be allowed. We started just now and apparently it was still too loud, but otherwise the people at the back of the stairs wouldn't be able to hear it at all. It seems that the university has different limits than we do when it comes to what is considered normal.’
The Hague Union of Students was only founded in February, but stands in solidarity with the victims of sexual violence, Martino says. ‘It’s quite ironic. One of our slogans is: “Stop the violence, no more silence”, but we are literally being silenced right now.’
The initiator of the demonstration is addressing the crowd again: ‘The university doesn’t listen to us. There should simply be more of everything, except rape.’ In July, she sent an open letter to the university and started a petition to draw attention to it, she says. ‘I’ve been waiting for a reply from the Diversity Office for three months now. We have collected more than 5,000 signatures and still, nothing has happened.’
However, she is not going to give up. ‘Next time, we will make even more noise, we are really going to shake things up. As long as it takes for our demands to be met.’
‘CARE has always been a temporary project which was made possible by a grant’, Diversity Officer Aya Ezawa explains. ‘So "disbanded" is not really the right word to use, at least not without the context that it was a pilot project.’
‘The aim of CARE is to provide a safe space to share and process personal experiences in a group setting with professional guidance and to create a community in which members can offer support and friendship to each other outside of the sessions. Unfortunately, the community wasn’t able to get off the ground during the pandemic.’
Regarding the lack of response that one of the students complained about, Ezawa states: ‘I did receive emails during the summer break, and I replied to them when my colleagues were available again after their holidays and there was more clarity about what the next steps would be.’
The group will most likely not return, but according to Ezawa, there will be an alternative. ‘We see from the responses that there is a particular need for a clear point of contact for students who have experienced sexually transgressive behaviour, a community that offers support and professional guidance. However, this is something that exceeds CARE’s objective. We’re looking for an approach which can benefit a wider group of students and can be implemented in a sustainable way.’
When asked, the founder of A Survivor at Leiden said that ‘no one, neither the members nor the psychologists, were aware of the temporary nature of the project.’ She has also communicated to Ezawa on several occasions that creating a community – one of the goals of the help that was offered – is impossible without the help of psychologists. ‘When sensitive topics like rape and sexual assault are at the heart of the discussions, we need psychologists to guide the conversation and help us stay calm.’