What's next for the DL???

OK, here is the update as requested by cabinthree.

1.) The administration and the students couldn't have missed the first posting even if they wanted to. I recieved emails from capus directors asking about it befor eit even got launched. I also got word that my initial email (sans my name) got forwarded to the business office, and many academic parties on campus. They knew it was coming basically.
2.) I agreed to an interview with the school newspaper about the project. That happened last week and the article will be out on Friday. Should be good to re-PR the project.
3.)Tim Barnes had agreed to meet with people last night from the DL. Anyone willing to chime in that was there and tell us what happened? I could not be there, I had another meeting I had to be at. Sorry.
4.) THERE WILL BE ANOTHER POST! the cleansweep apologizes, the cleansweep lost a little bit of speed and didn't get to post on Sunday night. The new Tshirts (and probably some of the old ones) will be posted shortly (since its a covert operation, I won't say when, but email me if you want to help hang.) around campus.
5.) This is where you guys come in. What do you want this project to accomplish? My main goal in starting it was spring cleaning of issues, we've done a good start on that. What do you want to see happen? A campus meeting? An apology to the people who have been wronged by the people who wronged them? It will be difficult, but you name it and as a whole, as a community, as a group of people who give a shit about other people, we can do it.

Thank you all for you undying participation. I'm thrilled to see people helping people!
~thecleansweep

Food for Thought

Research by Adams, Wright, and Lohr (1996) showed that men who are highly homophobic are more likely than other men to show homoerotic arousal. The researchers hypothesized that homophobia and hypermasculinity were (maladaptive) defenses against their own homosexual feelings and desires. People who are especially vocal about their hatred for the LGBT community may be responding to their fear and discomfort about their own conscious or unconscious same-sex fantasies.

What your parents tell you about bullies is true – they put down other people because they are insecure about themselves.

Sexual Orientation is NOT a Choice

As a bisexual, I am often frustrated by the question “Is homosexuality or bisexuality a choice?” No, it is not a choice. Consider the following questions: “What do you think caused your heterosexuality?” “If you have never slept with a person of the same sex, is it not possible that all you need is a good gay lover?” These questions sound absurd, but people ask the LGBT community equally ridiculous questions all the time. If you are straight, you probably can’t imagine being any other sexual orientation. If being straight is natural to you and biological in origin, why wouldn’t homosexuality and bisexuality be formed by the same forces? Why would someone chose to be a hated minority? In our heterosexist society, everyone is assumed to be straight, so it may appear that LGBT people chose their sexual orientation if and when they come out. But no one chooses who they are attracted to. The choice is in how someone deals with their sexual orientation and whether they decide to be true to themselves or to conform to mainstream society.

Task force meeting

there's a meeting with Timothy Barnes, the president of SGA, to discuss the new no tolerance policy soon to be implemented by the presidential task force on diversity that will rule over threats, rapes, etc... and what it entails. The meeting is Monday at 6:00pm in the SGA office which is across from Charlie's in Degenstein. Let other people know about this so that they can come and ask him other questions pertaining to the DL. I don't think he would mind others coming. If people cannot attend and do have questions please have them send me an email so that I can ask them and get back to them with answers.~from an email

WHY THIS IS HAPPENING

I was recently asked why I go to SU if I am so adamantly against SU. I am not against SU in any way shape or form. This is a community that has the potential to be amazing, if it stops keeping so many secrets. its about stopping those secrets so that the campus can live up to its full student body potential.

I was sexually molested by my godbrother throughout my childhood. He touched me, constantly walked in on me changing, and he would sneak into my room in the middle of the night to remove my clothes. I couldn't confront him - it wasn't in my nature and he was a boy. Girls aren't supposed to tell boys "no." So instead I would try to resist passively. I would gather my sheets tightly around me and cling to them with all my strength when he tried to remove them. I would try to act like I was about to wake up. He didn't want me to wake up - sleeping girls can't say no.

I never told my parents. I felt dirty and sinful and guilty. I thought my parents would blame me for allowing him to do this to me, for being submissive, for letting this start in the first place. I was afraid they'd blame me for waiting so long, for letting him get away with so much. I silently bore my sorrows, not wanting the heroes of my life to see me as the dirty, shameful, weak little girl I thought I was.

I do not have to let this damage my soul, my self esteem, and my ability to love and experience joy. I do not have to be silent and bear my misery alone. These events have changed me and allowed me to grow, but they do not define who I am.

My brother is an angry person. A violent person. He kicks holes in the walls when something upsets him. He has a quick temper and his moods are volatile and unpredictable. I have been a victim of that anger. Once, a few days after I got in a car accident, my brother beat me. I packed and tried to leave, but he ran after me. When I attempted to drive away, my mom stood in front of the car and refused to let me leave. She believed him over me. To this day she thinks I lied about it just to hurt my brother.

Later, I got into another argument with him and he warned me that since he is now over twenty-one that I should be careful. He said any adult could own a gun and for all I know he slept with one under his pillow, so I shouldn't anger him. Both my parents were in the room and for some reason they still don't believe he would ever hurt me. I filed for a Peace Order that would legally forbid my brother from contacting me. Again, my parents chose him over me. They thought he was the victim because I had betrayed the family by going to the police.

At court the judge dismissed my case. He did not believe my life had been threatened or was in danger. He practically laughed at me. I was petrified of my brother and afraid for my life, but the "justice" system did nothing.

On the Fringes

I am a bisexual female and proud of it. I am in a heterosexual relationship and am getting married when I graduate. Straight people criticize me for lusting after women. Gay people call me a traitor because I'm marrying a man. The bisexual community? Well, frankly, there isn't one. The University's theme this year is "On the Fringes." I'm on the fringes of both the heterosexual and homosexual communities. I feel loved and accepted by many people in both communities, but at the end of the day I'm still vaguely on the outside looking in.

I avoid being on campus at all costs.
If I do not share the same values, if I am interested in issues facing our nation, our campus, or our world and express them in a unique way, I feel like I am not a part of this student community.

The University’s standards for students are painfully low.

There is an intense lack of diversity (racial, cultural, socio-economic, religious, sexual, opinions, ideas, ways of viewing the world) on this campus.
And most students seem to love their safe little bubble.

I feel judged on campus for being different.

And just to get this in: Bush makes me want to be a terrorist, Vaginas are beautiful, and the CIA is now after me.
~ an anonymous email

blue light phones

Question: Why doesn't the campus get bluelight phones if it is concerned about rape? Answer: The last reason I heard was because it would make the campus appear to be unsafe. We don't want the campus to feel unsafe to people. ~ An Alumni womenspeak members response

I was raped at Susquehanna University.
It wasn't date rape.
I didn't know him before that night.
It was violent.
I had bruises and teeth marks.
Though the school addressed the issue, professors of mine, men who I believed would be understanding, dismissed me and my case entirely.
They dropped my grades due to my absence on the days I spent crying in the police station, in my best friends houses, potentially outside of your dorm room. Looking for the hours lost, trying to recount the places I had been.
Where can a student turn if her mentors are turning their backs?
Where can a student seek solace when the person who raped her was allowed to stalk the campus for another month, even though the police & public safety were involved, before being tried by the judicial board?
WHAT DOES SU REALLY PROTECT?
ITS STUDENTS, OR ITS REPUTATION?

An anonomous email

bardmaster said...
Since seventh grade, I have been called a fag, queer, flamer, queer, gay, etc at least once a week at school. People never understood how much that hurt me every time they said this. I have thought about killing myself many times in high school due to all of this name calling and harassment. I knew that I was gay, but I wasnt really allowed to come out due to all the homophobia in the area. I thought that I would escape it here, but my first roommates were afraid of homosexuals. I was shunned from them and their friends. I also thought aobut killing myself durring this time too. Now I know that there are people who do care about me, and are able to accept me for who I am.HOMOPHOBIA HURTS.HOMOPHOBIA IS PAINFUL.HOMOPHOBIA CAN LEAD TO SCUICIDE.
6:50 PM

This is the Dirty Laundry (or DL) Project. It is created to get things off the DL and out in the air at Susquehanna University. Anyone may and is encouraged to contribute to the blog or the Schools public space (namely bulletin boards in campus buildings) You may be anonymous, or you may say who you are. You may tell a specific instance or a general feeling. You can talk about gender, race, age, drinking, rape, drug use, anything you see fit that doesn't get discussed or doesn't get discussed honestly. It is a place for the people who feel persecuted and a place for the alleged or accused perpetrators to discuss. It is a site not for the competition of whose problem is bigger, but to get at the bigger problem. It is an open forum and a solution to the silence of SU. Please pass this site on to friends. Let's keep a written record, an ongoing dialogue so that no one can forget or be silenced anymore. If you are new and have not been invited to post, you may either post a comment and I will copy and paste it as its own post, or email it to me at butafly165@aol.com~clean sweep