He-Man Woman Hater's Club: Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins Newsletter, a student-run paper and website supported by university funding, showcased excellent student journalism last week by publishing articles that condone rape and taunt women on campus as overweight "livestock." At least the authors weren't anonymous.

When Jezebel posted about the articles and readers got angry, the newsletter editors posted a weak defense of its contributors and were largely unapologetic.

JHU's Feminist Alliance student group is fighting back. They are meeting with the Newsletter editors tonight, their Women's Studies professors tomorrow, and with the student body on Thursday. They told me the administration and the newsletter editors are unmoved by their arguments against university-funded slut-shaming and sizeism.

So, good feminists, please help them out. Email the editors and managing editor of the Newsletter, and tell them the Hopkins community deserves a sincere apology for the hateful diatribes they published.

Editors-in-Chief (chiefs@jhunewsletter.com)
Lily Newman
Sarah Tan

Managing Editors (managing@jhunewsletter.com)
Greg Sgammato

If you're a Hopkins student, contact the businesses that advertise in the Newsletter and ask them to disassociate themselves from a woman-hating publication. If you're really motivated, also call the Dean of Students and the faculty adviser for the newspaper.

Everyone should feel free to call the office of JHU president Ron Daniels at 410-516-8068, and tell him his university needs to create a safe, supportive learning environment for female students instead of publishing university-sanctioned hate speech.

To start, JHU students need a stronger, more comprehensive sexual assault policy that specifically defines rape and assault as prohibited conduct, includes SA training for the disciplinary board, and requires mandatory SA training for all students.

If you're in the Baltimore area and want to get more involved, contact the Feminist Alliance at feministalliance (dot) jhu (at) gmail (dot) com.

Photo: Toban Black on Flickr