WSA hosts ‘Carry That Weight’ event

The Women’s Student Assembly brought the national event “Carry That Weight” to USC on Wednesday.

The event was inspired by Emma Sulkowicz, a student at Columbia University, who has been carrying her mattress with her on campus as long as her rapist still attends the university. At colleges across the country, students, staff and faculty members planned to stand in solidarity with survivors of sexual assault and violence by carrying mattresses together.

 

Sulkowicz, who expressed that her demonstration was more for artistic purposes than for protest, said in an interview with the Columbia Spectator  that the mattress represents a private space and a burden that she continues to bear. Activists hope that bringing the event to college campuses will show a commitment to improving the way sexual and domestic violence is dealt with.

Vanessa Diaz, the new assistant director for WSA, organized the event at USC.

“When I first discovered the event a few weeks back, I was amazed at the solidarity and really wanted to bring that to our campus,” she said in an email to the Daily Trojan. “We have coalitions like R.I.S.E. (Reform, Inform, Speak Out, Empower) and past organizations such as S.C.A.R. (Student Coalition Against Rape), so this is a conversation that is relevant and continues to be relevant on our campus. The University of Southern California would be doing itself an injustice by not participating in this nationwide symbolic solidarity.”

The goal of this demonstration of solidarity was to show survivors that people would help lift the burden of sexual violence from their shoulders — carrying the weight together.

“The purpose of this protest is to remove the shame that falls upon the survivors of rape, and instead move that shame to the institutions and entities that have failed us,” Diaz said in an email.

WSA created a Facebook event and a Google form to encourage the USC community to participate in the “Carry That Weight” event. Participants were asked if they needed assistance holding a mattress, and people were also told to use pillows if they were unable to carry mattresses.

“The most important aspect of the ‘Carry That Weight’ event is that people ask to help,” Diaz said in an email. “As one of the Public Relations Chair for the Women’s Student Assembly, I did my best to not force people to volunteer, but rather offer the opportunity to show support for an important cause. I did not have to ‘get’ people to participate. People already wanted to.”

Claire Porter, a freshman majoring in communication, heard about the event from a friend at the University of California, Berkeley, and decided to share USC’s event coordinated by WSA on Facebook.

“It’s so relatable,” she said. “A girl around my age gets raped at college — that could be anyone here, too.”

Porter said that the event was also indicative of other safety issues faced by women on campus.

“It’s always a thought going through girls’ heads that it’s become a natural way to think,” she said. “We always walk in pairs, have someone walk us home, etc. It’s all rape prevention. We’re all sympathetic to her case and thus, it is easier to find it in our hearts to support her and everyone else who has dealt with such a traumatic event.”

Though Diaz said only around 30 students responded to the survey indicating they would participate in raising awareness, students felt that the event promoted an important message.

“Sexual assault is very real and very serious, so colleges should treat it as such,” said Alisha Garg, a freshman majoring in business administration. “It’s great to see people participate in the ‘Carry That Weight’ event here at USC. Seeing people walk around campus with mattresses definitely caught my attention and is a powerful symbol of how victims are never alone and always have people around them who can help carry the burden.”