*Editor’s Note: This story was updated on April 22.*
Large numbers of students and faculty marched on and around the Winthrop campus in protest of recent allegations against the school’s leadership in relation to the mishandling of Title IX cases and victims. The protest garnered roughly 80 students and several faculty members. Protesters and observers initially gathered in front of the Byrnes Auditorium, where participants were provided food and water by the WU Students for Change, the unofficial student organization that coordinated the march. WU Students for Change co-organizer and senior art major Rhianna Rausch said the group is unaffiliated with the student group that organized the sit-in protest earlier in the month, but share many of the same values and goals.
Participants were also given a list of chants to orate during the march as well as a list of student demands compiled by student leaders in the WU Students for Change. The document called for actions such as a zero tolerance policy for Winthrop entities that perpetuate sexual violence, the removal of staff members deemed irresponsible in their positions for protecting sexual assault victims and a formal apology to be issued by President Hynd on behalf of the university towards students and survivors who “have been re-victimized by Winthrop’s apathy and victim blaming.”
“How can Winthrop truly support survivors when their first instinct is to blame them?,” Rausch said to protesters. “When I read the story about Ellie and Summer, I was extremely inspired by their courage. It is because of them that I have decided to speak out today. How Winthrop University treats survivors has to be known. Indifference, interrogation and victim blaming are just some of the tactics that the Winthrop administration uses to approach the topic of sexual assault. …Winthrop has continued to deny these things, but we have the power to help survivors’ voices be heard and have their experiences validated.
The march began in front of the Byrnes Auditorium and continued onto Oakland Ave., Cherry Road and Alumni Drive. The march then cut through the Winthrop campus and back onto Oakland Ave., where students stopped to protest in front of the President’s House and Tillman Hall. Slogans like “My body, my choice!” and “This is what community looks like!” echoed across the campus and in front of the President’s abode. “I’m out here protesting because it is bull**** what this campus has done to us, and it’s not fair that they don’t listen to us,” art major and sophomore Briana Luvy said. “So we gotta be out here making sure our voices are heard.”
Mass communication major and freshman Ainsley McCarthy said part of the reason she came was poor communication from the university and their reluctance to commit to action.
“I’m sick and tired, as you probably heard from the chants, of problems being confronted with fluff emails versus “action” that’s not action. I’m hoping that with all these protests Hynd and other higher-ups will be motivated to promote change, not just in emails and words but in real action and policy,” McCarthy said.
Fine arts major and WU Students for Change member Grayce Kellam said the protest was a success, and the group hopes to gain the accreditation to become an official organization and to continue to fighting for Winthrop students and survivors even into the summer break.
