Sean McMinn
smcminn@mustangdaily.net
Cal Poly’s Gender Equity Center has no problem being a bold force on campus. It enlisted the help of a life-size, dancing vagina to promote “The Vagina Monologues” in February, and supporters are often seen sporting their “I (heart) consensual sex” T-shirts. But Safer, the center’s sexual assault and relationship violence prevention program, is creating controversy in a new place: the Internet.
In addition to promoting Gender Equity Center events on its Facebook page, some of Safer’s postings also have political undertones. On the page, Safer criticized a New Mexico Republican lawmaker who introduced rape-related legislation it found disagreeable. It also linked to an article from feminist blog Feminspire titled “Why Does America Pretend it Doesn’t Hate Women?”
Safer director Christina Kaviani said she had not seen the two postings, nor had she seen a post Safer “liked” linking to “How Male Sexual Entitlement Hurts Everyone,” an article on everydayfeminism.com.
Students typically manage the page, Kaviani said.
“We trust the students that they’re going to put things that are important for other students to read,” she said.
Matt Lazier, Cal Poly’s interim director of media relations, wrote in an email to Mustang Daily that there is no university policy for social media. It can be difficult, he said, for the university to create such a policy while being mindful of free speech and academic freedom.
There are, however, limitations on Cal Poly employees. Per California law, no public official can use, or allow others to use, state resources for campaign activities or to post anything illegal.
Kaviani said Safer hasn’t crossed either line.
“I don’t think by posting anything, it’s endorsing any train of thought,” she said. “I wouldn’t say the Gender Equity Center and Safer are pro-choice and democrats.”
But Elena Reynolds, graduate student and Cal Poly College Republicans president, disagrees. When Reynolds saw Safer write “How about believing instead, New Mexico?” next to a story about a Republican state representative who tried to create a law requiring rape victims carry out pregnancies to use the fetus as evidence in trial, she said it was an unfair attack on conservatives.
“I’m not surprised the things posted there are the kind of things that makes conservatives look bad,” she said. “I see what they’re trying to do. It’s pretty blatant that they want to make Republicans look bad.”
Reynolds said she thinks Safer should keep its postings balanced, presenting two sides of the stories it addresses. The feminist blogs posted should also be coupled with commentary written by men, Reynolds said.
Men wrote two of the eight articles Safer has linked to in the past five months.
Kaviani said she believes articles with “wow factor” and extreme news stories are how organizations start discussion and make change.
“I can guess it’s to get the pot stirred,” she said. “Controversy and getting people fired up is how a lot of people get things done.”
Safer student assistant and English senior Kat Beglin is one of the students who rotates management of the Safer and Gender Equity Center Facebook accounts on a weekly schedule. Beglin said she looks for blogs and national news stories about reproductive-health justice and sexual-assault awareness when she’s posting.
Echoing Kaviani, Beglin said Safer won’t align itself with a political party. There are, however, some times when the debate surrounding sexual assault intersects with political battles.
“We want people to know that sexual assault isn’t just a social issue and a cultural issue,” Beglin said. “It obviously starts there, but there are also legal ways that these things can be addressed.”