As part of its ongoing commitment to consent education, Memorial’s Sexual Harassment Office held Consent Clothes Line events on the St. John’s campus twice this year and has plans for a third.
The first Consent Clothes Line was held on Sept. 3 as part of Welcome Week. The second was held on Sept. 13 in support of Sexual Violence Awareness Week in Newfoundland and Labrador, which took place Sept. 10-16.
1/ Consent clothes line
The Consent Clothes Line event, part of the 2017 Welcome Week activities on the St. John's campus, helped raise awareness and education around consent and highlighted the Sexual Harassment Office as a resource.
2/ Consent inspired T-shirt
One of Memorial’s 2017 Welcome Week volunteers, Taylor Ivany, poses with the consent message T-shirt she created during residence move-in day.
3/ More messages
Joan Conway, a Welcome Week 2017 volunteer, holds her consent message T-shirt during the Sept. 3 event.
4/ Wearing the message
From left, Memorial students Shane Regular and Sharad Protiti created and dressed in their own consent message inspired T-shirts as part of the Sept. 13 event in recognition and support of Sexual Violence Awareness Week.
5/ Collaborative designs
From left, Memorial students Kayla Halleran and Megan Pike worked together while creating individual T-shirts.
6/ Focused design
Albin Jose Toms focuses while designing his T-shirt.
7/ No means no
Dr. Aimée Suprenant, dean of the School of Graduate Studies, poses with one of the consent message T-shirts.
8/ Message on display
A Memorial student displays the T-shirt she designed during the Sept. 13 event.
9/ Board member
Jason Geary, chair of Memorial’s St. John's campus sexual harassment board, attended the Sept. 13 Consent Clothes Line event.
10/ Sexual Harassment Advisor
From left, Shane Regular, Student Volunteer Bureau co-ordinator, and Rhonda Shortall, sexual harassment advisor at Memorial, on Sept. 13.
In collaboration with the Canadian Federation of Students, the Sexual Harassment Office will host a third Consent Clothes Line on Friday, Oct. 20, from 2:30-4 p.m. The event is taking place as part of the Consent Culture Forum organized by the Canadian Federation of Students.
During events that have been held to date, students, faculty and staff designed their own consent message inspired T-shirts for display. Participants were asked to come up with messages that would help raise awareness about consent and our shared responsibility in the prevention of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
“Students, faculty and staff have been supportive of the events and participated by creating T-shirts with messages of consent which have been displayed on campus,” said Rhonda Shortall, the university’s sexual harassment advisor. “In doing this they are raising awareness about sexual violence and prevention and they are making people think about this important issue and how we can all help to create change.”
