McGill Tribune

Queen’s University made a strong statement last Thursday. The university and its student society, the Alma Mater Society (AMS), jointly suspended the century-old Queen’s Bands from performances for the remainder of the semester after the administration discovered that the band had distributed offensive material to its members. Queen’s vice provost was reluctant to repeat much of the material in the pamphlets to the public. According to the Vancouver Sun, band members were given pamphlets with text including phrases such as “I will rape you with a lamp,” and “mouth raping your little sister since 1905.” A photo in the National Post depicts female Bands members’ buttocks used as drums by male performers during a show. 

The Queen’s Bands are an iconic representation of the university, and were scheduled to appear in Toronto’s Santa Claus parade and other public holiday events. The Bands’ public apology was meek at best, and did little more than take responsibility for their actions. 

Such flagrant misogyny is unacceptable, and the Tribune applauds the university’s swift action to suspend the band. This response demonstrates that such demeaning material is not permissible. The sensitive nature of these topics can preclude public discussion, and some may think that this behaviour is part of a harmless party subculture in some university settings. But sometimes public scrutiny is necessary to effect change. 

All students are entitled to participate in university activities. Initiation rites and unruly behavior are common in a university setting. This type of club culture needn’t be universally taboo, but these initiations often include some level of humiliation and even oppression. Friendly rites of passage, carried out without due consideration, can easily cross the line from bawdy and rowdy, to offensive and marginalizing. No student should feel pressured to condone offensive material or endure its emotional impact in order to be a part of a campus group. The Queen’s Bands are an old, symbolic institution, and so some members may have felt pressured to keep the offensive material under the administration’s radar. However, the fact that this behaviour became routine proceedings is worrying on many levels. 

The Tribune praises Queen’s decision to not only suspend the band, but also to require members to partake in human rights training. The university has ordered band members to destroy all of the offensive material. But this material is just a fragment of a problem that is much more widespread. The material highlights a larger, looming subculture in which such chauvinist camaraderie appears to have become acceptable, even expected. Such a perception ought to be discouraged, and the university’s condemnation of this material is an effective way to send out that message. 

Suspending the entire band may seem like a harsh reaction, particularly if only a few members were involved in the material’s invention and distribution. However, this action sends a signal that reaches far beyond the band members. By acting decisively, the perpetuation of a culture of permissiveness comes to a screeching halt.