Five weeks ago, Dal鈥檚 Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies program and Office of Human Rights, Equity and Harassment Prevention (HREHP) had their first meetings to launch a new initiative for campus 鈥斅爋ne spanning 16 days and bringing an important international campaign to campus.
Now, they have now been joined by many partners across the Dal and Halifax communities to put on .
With the support of groups such as the Dalhousie Feminist Legal Association, DalOUT, South House, Bryony House and others, the Dal campaign will feature 30-plus events across 16 days.
The international campaign, first launched at Rutgers University in 1991, spans several important milestones including the International Day Against Violence Against Women (November 25), World AIDS Day (December 1), the National of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (December 6) and International Human Rights Day (December 10).
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The Dal campaign launched last Wednesday (November 25) in the Student Union Building with music by the Dal Jam Society and remarks by several members of the Dalhousie community.
Angela Samonte, a new peer education with HREHP, was handing out small paper hands at the event so people could write on them 鈥渨hat inspires them, why they are here or what they want to commit to,鈥� she said.
Among those contributing 鈥渉ands鈥� was Dalhousie President Richard Florizone, who addressed attendees.
President Florizone fills out one of the helping hands for the SUB wall.
鈥淚t is wonderful to see our students, faculty and staff from across our campus and from King鈥檚 engaged in this important topic,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f we are to make progress, we need to come together through initiatives such as this. If we are going to make this change, we have to do it together.鈥�
Margaret Denike,聽Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies coordinator, also spoke at the opening and introduced first year student Alex Hughes, who has taken the lead on re-launching the Dalhousie Women鈥檚 and Gender Studies society this year after some time of it being dormant.
鈥淚 have been so incredibly inspired by the energy here and by the students,鈥� said Hughes (above), new to Dal this year. 鈥淚 never imagined that in my first year I would be taking on a project like starting a new society. Students here really want to make a difference and they are making a difference.鈥�
President Florizone noted how some of the events Dal has seen in the past year, including the Dentistry Facebook group and the community鈥檚 response to it, demonstrate how everyone has a stake in addressing the sort of issues raised by the 16 Days campaign.
鈥淲e all have a hand in working together to address issues like gender-based violence, but also diversity and inclusion on our campus. Thank you for engaging in these 16 days of Activism to bring more attention to these important issues.鈥�
Jude Ashburn, outreach coordinator for South House, said that it鈥檚 dialogue and partnerships such as those in this campaign that are key to addressing systemic sexism, transphobia, misogyny, homophobia, racism and other issues.
鈥淭his has really been a hugely collaborative organizing project and it鈥檚 really, really exciting.鈥�
Left-to-right: Angela Samonte (peer educator, HRHEP), Margaret Deneke (coordinator, Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies), Shakira Weatherdon (education advisor, HRHEP), Harley Johnson (peer educator, HRHEP), Philip Bobbie-Ansah (peer educator, HRHEP).