Content Warning: Sexual violence.
A month after the recent allegations of sexual violence against the former VP External Affairs David Aird, the SSMU is faced with yet another fiasco.
Following Aird’s resignation on February 22, Elections SSMU has decided to issue a Formal Censure against Noah Century, the VP External Affairs Candidate. The SSMU defines A Censure as “the highest form of sanction against candidates, short of disqualification.”
Elections SSMU decided to take action against Century following an investigation into a SSMU member’s complaint regarding Century’s interview with McGill Daily as a part of the publication’s endorsement process for the upcoming elections. In the interview, Century was asked about the “takeaways” he drew from the case of David Aird, to which he initially answered: “Don’t get caught.” Century then went on to explain that this was not his actual stance regarding the issue. Two days later, as he was being interviewed by the Chief Electoral Officer, Century explained his initial comments were a “bad joke” and apologized. Elections SSMU nevertheless issued A Censure on Saturday March 11.
On Sunday March 12 around 5 PM, Century announced his official withdrawal from the elections with a Facebook post published on his campaign’s event page. In his statement, Century recognizes that sexual violence is intolerable, and offers his compassion to victims.
It is still evident from the comments section of the same Facebook post that Century still has no grasp of why his comments are unacceptable. Minutes after publishing his withdrawal, Century went on to like one of the comments under the post that said, “Too many triggered.” By liking this comment, Century singlehandedly contradicted his ‘compassionate’ announcement that accepts his mistake and apologizes for it. As of now, his “like” is still visible on the comments section, even after he was called out for it.
The existence of rape culture on the McGill campus is sad and worrying. However, perhaps even more concerning is the McGill administration’s lack of concern for the rape culture. It is the school administration’s responsibility to take the necessary actions to make McGill a safe and peaceful community for everyone, before “bad jokes” like these have even worse consequences.
Information obtained from:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1298355793590876/permalink/1301913139901…
https://www.reddit.com/r/mcgill/comments/5z18w0/noah_century_withdraws_from_ssmu_vp_external_race/
Images obtained from: