The "Overturn Eclectic Housing Restriction" online petition is now closed after having received 721 signatures. Here's a message from Eclectic:
We're taking the link down from the sidebar.Thank you so much for your support.
Unfortunately, due to spam, the petition is now closed. We strongly urge you to contact Assistant Director of Student Affairs Scott Backer (sbacker@wes) or President Michael Roth (mroth@wes) to vocalize your concerns.
An online petition to lift the ban on social events at Eclectic is up. Here's what you're signing for:
The Eclectic Society has recently been informed by Scott Backer and the Student Judicial Board that all events, lectures, gatherings, and shows taking place at 200 High St. this semester – including those already scheduled – must be canceled due to a “House Hosting Restriction.” Backer and the SJB have made one exception: WesFest weekend. We feel that in eliminating Eclectic as a campus-wide venue, these restrictions threaten to eliminate an integral campus space necessary to foster the creative and intellectual energy upon which Wesleyan prides itself. We will be appealing this mandate this week and hope that wide student support will help the case.If you're somehow resentful of Eclectic, be clear about the distinction between your sense of schadenfreude and the seriously negative impact this ban will have on life at Wesleyan. Shutting down all events taking place at Eclectic for the rest of the semester doesn't just punish Eclectic members, it punishes the campus as a whole.
In signing this petition I declare my support for the Eclectic Society’s efforts to overturn the House Hosting Restriction in order to maintain all previously-scheduled events for the duration of the semester.
The SJB should really consider other ways of sanctioning those students responsible for the infractions that led to this restriction, which aren't detrimental to the greater student body.UPCOMING EVENTS
Some of you might remember this article published in the Argus a month ago detailing the lack of campus resources for sexual assault survivors. The Feminist Network wants to do something about that and has created a petition it plans to send to President Roth. Erin Clark '09 writes:
I am writing to ask you to take a moment of your time to sign this letter to President Michael Roth, which urges him, on behalf of the University at large, to make steps this academic year (and beyond) to improve upon the existing resources for sexual assault survivors and all students at Wesleyan. The proposed changes have been compiled using the results of a sexual assault survey conducted during the fall of last year by the Feminist Network, a student group.Questions? Contact Erin at eclark@wes.
Your support is absolutely essential to making these changes a priority. Sexual assault is a devastating social issue that must be taken more seriously at this campus so as to make sure that survivors have the best options available to them. We know that sexual assaults occur on this campus. We also know that they considerably underreported at Wesleyan, and that survivors are not always getting the help they need and deserve. Currently, Wesleyan's response to sexual assault is considerably less coordinated than some of our peer institutions, notably Williams and Amherst. Furthermore, we believe that these improvements are necessary so as to send the clear message that sexual assault will not be ignored or tolerated on this campus.
