Campus Women

Montreal massacre

hortly after 5 pm on December 6, 1989, a 25 year oldman S walked into l’Ecole Polytechnique -- the Engineering

school of the Universite de Montreal. Armed with a high- calibre semiautomatic rifle which he had purchased legally under the laws of the time, Marc Lepine walked into a class- room and ordered all the women in the class to stand against one wall. He shot six of them dead on the spot, then continued through the school’s halls, killing as he went. By the time he was done, 14 women were dead, and 11 others along with 4 men were wounded. Lepine shot himself in the head. The three-page suicide note found on his body was an explanation of his hatred for women, from his mother, to his co-workers, to cafeteria staff where he ate his lunch. Inthe weeks after the killings, Canada’s worst massacre, more was discovered about the background of this individual. He had been a failure at everything he had undertaken, and had blamed all of his failures on women. Horribly, thirty people had to pay for Marc Lepine’s wasted life.

Montreal remembered

kay, here we are coming up on the third anniversary of QO Marc Lepine’s murderous rampage at 1’ Ecole

Polytechnique in Montreal and we’ve decided to write in memory of this event. So, in order to prepare to write this, I went to last year’s CUP papers to see what was written at that time.

To my utter shock and dismay, I found only five papers which contained any articles or advertisements pertaining to this anniversary. By then my co-editor made a comment about how she’d found only three magazines that had run stories on the incident even back in 89. Now, we realize that if we had gone t mainstream paper, we would have found information, but

Why is it the student press didn’t remember the massacre? The fourteen women who Marc Lepine killed were all students, just like us. These women were innocent bystanders -- just like any of us would be -- but they were killed in cold blood simply because they are women.

In remembrance of these women, and all the others that have been killed in violence we should all wear purple ribbon. Ribbons will be available around campus as the December 4 memorial planned on campus draws ever closer. The Women’s Constituency group and Student Union are co-organizing this year’s memorial. Roses are being sold by the Women’s Con- stituency group for a flower laying at the memorial. Mikase attend this memorial, don’t let the violence continue.

White ribbon campaign

his year, in addition to the usual wearing of purple aL ribbons in memory of the Montreal Massacre, men in Canada are being encouraged to wear white ribbons to show their opposition to violence against women. Included in this campaign is a discussion of the violence against women perpetuated by men, and steps to help men change the bad things in society.

The interesting thing about this campaign is the fact that it is instituting a separate hierarchy of action formen. Why should men be fighting against violence against women, and then women fighting against violence against women? Men should be included, as it is their problem, but why are they off doing something totally separate on something that is all of society’s concern?