Students give accused rapists' names at UM event
Students at the University of Maryland, College Park are holding their bi-annual "clothesline project" rape-awareness event today, in front of the Hornbake library.
The 17-year-old event at UM made news earlier this month, after university officials banned participants from naming accused sexual predators on T-shirts, which hang from clotheslines as a symbol of assault victims.
The event is endorsed and sponsored by the university, and UM officials said the ban was made to avoid potential defamation lawsuits. Student activists protested, calling the ban censorship, and vowed to hang shirts naming alleged perpetrators in a separate -- but public -- forum.
Earlier today, Angela Boos, a junior, told me that about 15 shirts with names on them were hanging today, near the larger university-sponsored event.
A representative of the national grass roots Clothesline Project said that naming alleged perpetrators is not appropriate:
"We ask that perpetrators not be named on survivor's shirts unless they have been convicted. It is a liability issue for the local projects," said "Carol C," in an e-mail.
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