By Lauren del ValleNEWS EDITOR
Shirts bearing discussions of sexual assault were hung from lines on either side of the path leading from the unispan to Hofstra Hall on the academic side of campus. But at 7 a.m., when the shirts were to be hung by Plant Department employees, no one came.
The leaders of the It Ends With Us movement sat in the lobby of the unispan waiting for a Plant Department worker to arrive to fulfill the work order issued for the Clothesline Project event after a six-week approval process. Plant Department Senior Associate of Event Management Martin Gonzalez confirmed the work date and time in an email on which five members of the Event Management administration were copied.
By chance, the Director of Event Management Neil Collins, one copied on the email, walked by the student advocates and took it upon himself to resolve the situation. Director Mike King and Associate Director Paul Romano came to Collins’s aid. All three declined to comment. Ninety minutes later, four workers arrived with poles and zip ties. According to Vice President for Facilities and Operations Joseph Barkwill, the work order was not detailed regarding a set time or how the shirts were to be hung. The shirts were originally to be hung on the handrails, but this violates policy that maintains the public health necessity for the availability of the rails at all times.
“No one realized that students would be out there waiting, ready to go at 7 a.m. We still had some questions and we figured we had time in the morning to work it out,” said Barkwill. “There’s nothing sinister happening or anything along those lines. Nothing was meant to make this more difficult for the students.”
“If the work orders aren’t detailed enough, we try not to send the crews out. It’s not your typical repair-my-dresser work order, it’s one where it has to go through a number of different approval processes, but it worked. It may have taken a little effort to get there.”
The three Plant Deptartment administrators required It Ends With Us to cut down one shirt from the clothesline due to what a public safety officer deemed vulgar language. The Plant Department had chosen to leave the decision regarding the nature of the language to the Office of Student Affairs, according to Barkwill.
Passersby will see red and orange shirts symbolizing victims attacked for their sexual orientation. White and tan recall incidents of rape and sexual assault while green and yellow remember those who died from sexual violence. Children’s clothing remembers child molestation and abuse, and blue represents domestic violence. Grey and black represent political circumstances and verbal and emotional abuse, respectively.
It Ends With Us hosted a shirt-decorating event three weeks ago, where approximately 70 students shared their experiences with sexual assault on the T-shirts that were to be hung. Most participants were victims and survivors of sexual assault; others participated in support of loved ones and the movement at large.
“It Ends With Us is extremely excited about the completion of the Clothesline Project,” said co-founder Taylor Wade. “It warms our hearts to know that survivors and supporters have had this outlet to express themselves and now these expressions can be seen by everyone at Hofstra. We would like to thank the Hofstra Plant and Events Management departments for their hard work this morning and for helping us bring our vision to life despite the many obstacles that we faced. We would also like to thank members of MISPO, Residential Programs and Student Affairs for lending all the support they could.”
The display will remain hung until the end of the day on Friday.
