This Wasn't on the Syllabus: Stories from the Frontlines

Addy Strickland, Emma Kuzmyk

• Publisher: Rising Action
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN:
  9781998076772
• Subtopic: Sociology

THIS WASN'T ON THE SYLLABUS illuminates the courageous stories of campus activism against sexualized violence in Canada, uniting over three decades of personal accounts and resistance in a powerful call to prioritize and amplify the voices of student activists worldwide.

This Wasn’t on the Syllabus: Stories from the Front Lines of Campus Activism Against Sexualized Violence is both a record and an act of protest, progress, and survival located within Canada’s post-secondary landscape. The collection features personal accounts which articulate not only the prevalence of sexualized violence on campus, but how these acts inspire students to activism. The book is a call to value and prioritize the voices of student activists, who are often among those most impacted by sexualized violence, and who are key participants in driving change.

Stories which have until now existed precariously in news clippings—or been passed on through whisper networks—are now permanently inked. Connecting stories that span more than three decades, this anthology draws on collective memory to resist the cyclical nature of campus activism and is a testament to the solidarity of those who have fought, and continue to fight, against sexualized violence on campus.

While This Wasn't on the Syllabus is written from a Canadian perspective, sexualized violence is prevalent around the world, and the call to activism knows no geographic boundaries.

Content Warning: the collection focuses on sexualized violence, but each piece contains a specific content warning if applicable.

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Introduction
• What We Faced
• 1. I Wonder
• 2. X-Resist: Responding to Institutional Inaction
• 3. #MeToo
• 4. The Poet
• 5. All of the Noise
• 6. White Woman’s Work
• 7. The After
• 8. The Home Stretch
• 9. What Resolution?
• 10. Is my Campus a Brick Wall? A Conversation About My Experience with Sexual Violence at Mount Allison University
• 11. An Imaginary Letter from a University to Survivors of Sexualized Violence
• 12. What Would Gracie Think?
• 13. Rape Culture
• 14. Sudden and all at Once
• 15. 1989
• 16. violence against women is a men’s issue
• 17. Echoic Memories
• 18. Futures
• 19. Not Our Policy: A Story of Policy and Resistance at Carleton University
• 20. This Will Not Blow Over
• 21. They Watched Me Burn
• 22. Revolutions
• What We Built
• 23. The StFX Peer Support Program
• 24. The StFX Peer Support Program: A Second Perspective
• 25. Teal Ribbon Campaign
• 26. OurTurn: A National Action Plan to End Campus Sexual Violence
• 27. Risks of the Research—“A serious lack of judgment on my part”
• 28. The PEARS Project
• 30. Engaging Men in Sexual Violence Prevention: Challenges, Barriers, and Ways Forward
• How We Survived
• 31. Baggage
• 32. How to Heal Your Heart at Home
• 33. Valkyries and Memories
• 34. Strategic Policy Reform and Celebrating the Delayed Wins
• 35. ghost girls
• 36. Where Do We Go From Here? Building a Container for Care, Solidarity, and Empowerment
• 37. my love will not be institutionalized
• 38. Beautiful and Expansive Love
• 39. Surviving Ten Seconds
• 40. E
• 41. Shoulder to Shoulder
• 42. The Power of Art and Activism to Heal and Transform the Self and the Collective Body
• 43. Letter to a Classmate
• 44. Arrival
• Advice from the Front Lines
• Conclusion
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• About the Curators
• Glossary
• References