After a University of Wyoming student group posted a threat of sexual violence against another student on its Facebook page, Pamela Kandt, co-convener of the Episcopal Women’s Caucus called on University of Wyoming officials, including President Tom Buchanan, on Wednesday, to make a “swift response to this outrage.”
“This is a prime opportunity for university administration to make clear, once and for all, there is no room for a rape culture,” Kandt said.
The group, called UW Crushes, uses the UW seal, which includes “equality” in the image, as its profile picture. The page is not officially affiliated with the university.
The post, which has been removed, used graphic, forceful language toward a female UW student, who has asked to not be identified.
The Laramie Boomarang reports:
It referenced a sexual act against “that chick that runs her liberal mouth all the time and doesn’t care who knows it.”
“One night with me and she’s (sic) gonna be a good Republican (expletive),” the post read.
UW spokesman Chad Baldwin said university police are investigating the post in hopes of determining who it was authored by and whether any crimes were committed.
Sara Axelson, UW vice president of student affairs, responded to Kandt’s email Thursday.
“President Buchanan asked that I respond on his behalf to this email and your call,” Axelson wrote. “I appreciate your concern and agree that this language on the site is hateful and unacceptable.
“The UW Crushes site is not affiliated with the University of Wyoming and action has been taken regarding the use of the UW trademark seal. Thankfully, the post has been removed.
“The University of Wyoming doesn’t tolerate any form of violence. Know that appropriate action will be taken if any employees or students were involved in the recent posting.”
UW Crushes is a Facebook page that invites readers to “Tell us about your crush or that cutie you saw by sending us a message using our anonymous form.” In their posted response, they admit that they do not screen contributions to the site. Their statement says:
“That’s why we don’t have the time to screen every single word and every single message you guys send,” the apology reads. “Our job is just to copy and paste what UW students wanna say and give them the chance to express their feelings freely, but obviously we don’t read them because simply that’s impossible, especially if we are getting thousands and thousands of posts daily.”
The female student targeted in the original post responded to the apology.
She said she’s unmoved by the page admin’s explanation.
“To me, it was, ‘Sorry you’re offended,'” she said. “It’s not an apology that really takes ownership.”