USC President Eddy Avila. (Courtesy: Western University)
‘No means yes and yes means anal’ were the colorful words that painted the windows of a Western affiliated Kings College student home on Epworth Avenue. It’s the same message that has caused rage and consequence in the past for many fraternities across North America.
Western University took some heat from the city and from the London’s Abused Women Centre after not immediately responding to the message. They have since then apologized, however, the USC representatives at Western say that moving forward, something needs to be done so that situations like this are better handled in the future.
USC President Eddy Avila says although it was an unfortunate event, it sparked a much needed conversation that sometimes comes from a place of ignorance.
“This whole situation has highlighted the need for better training and better education. I think that sometimes people make jokes or belittle the topic because they don’t adequately have the education to fully understand the severity of this topic,” says Avila. “This goes back to the education, that as a university, we need to be providing our students, but also the staff members and the Western administration who are handling these types of situations.”
Moving forward, the USC says they will be releasing a consent campaign video and hope to change the conversation to one that’s supportive of consent and to sexual violence survivors.
