An administratively sound argument for the Chapman Clothesline Project
By Hailey Bunsold
Photo Courtesy of The Panther Archives
Data collection at the scale that Dani Smith and Chapman C.A.R.E.S. have amounted and continue actively archiving is an unrivaled quantitative feat. Over 800 articles of clothing, color coded and artfully designed by a survivor of violence who has chosen to share their story, amounts to a massive anthropological archive that rivals any artistic or other display of its kind in the state of California. Decades of stories have been preserved for the sole purpose of a semiannual at Chapman. At a cold and calculated minimum, Chapman University administration should be proud to display the Clothesline Project each semester for the accolade of institutional social scientific accomplishment. It has been clear that the university does not speak the language of students, perhaps a student should speak in the language of the institution: money.
From its own internal reporting, Chapman University has seen a year over year increase in sexual assault on campus. Chapman’s Annual Fire and Safety Report found 14 documented instances of sexual assault in 2023, an increase from the previous school year. Of course, using one’s sociological imagination tells us that the figure is deeply understated and the number of victims is much larger. For a university that is far behind its necessary enrollment numbers for its newest freshman class and will likely continue feeling the economic effects of a screwed up Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) system, it is necessary that the university make every effort at outreach to potential students and retain those it has. Campus and personal safety are top-priority considerations for the families considering sending their freshly adult student to school. Current students impacted by sexual violence are disenfranchised from the place they sought to learn in and consider leaving the space altogether. Most universities cannot tangibly point to preventative measures of rape and sexual assault on their campuses and instead talk about their institutional response via Title IX, psychological counseling, internal investigation and university or judicial consequences. Conversely, Chapman’s Clothesline Project is an ongoing tangible community education project that directly addresses prevention.
The impact of witness is different for each individual but the message sent by the sheer number of shirts displayed on clotheslines turning areas of campus into forests of color shows students that sexual violence is everywhere. The universality of the T-shirt silently dismantles the notion that sexual assault is predicated by what someone was wearing. It is impossible to ignore the handwritten messages surrounding you: “Hands off of my Body,” “You took something from me but I’m getting it back now,” “I will never forgive you for what you did to me as a child,” “All I wanted to do was go out with my friends,” “I thought you loved me.” You can’t walk through campus without feeling haunted. This should provide not only an empowering aspect for survivors to share their stories and reflect on how far they have come in their healing, but as a chilling effect for potential perpetrators. Emotional impact brought about by art has the ability to move people in ways that Healthy Panther and student conduct agreements cannot. Reducing the impact of sexual violence on Chapman’s campus means impacting the culture writ large, which cannot be accomplished without emotional resonance across the student body. The Clothesline Project has adapted to be survivor-sensitive without letting the issue remain emotionally isolated. Chapman markets itself as a center of advancement meant to be on the cutting edge of critical thought. An excellent way to highlight this is to support meaningful initiatives that both attract and retain potential students while giving the university an edge in a leading concern among necessary tuition payments, I mean new members of the Chapman Family, that the institution cares so very deeply for.
Not only should Chapman University and its administration support the full display of the Clothesline Project out of institutional academic pride and civic education, it is in its best interest to mount a full-throated defense of an exception to new university policy regarding protests and displays. Administrators like Smith, who not only goes above and beyond their professional capacity to support students in times of crisis but also fill in critical gaps within the institution of the university to prevent instances of violence among students, deserve to know that their work will be respected and preserved rather than reduced to insignificance. The University’s original proposal of allowing Chapman C.A.R.E.S. to display 15 pieces of their 800 shirt archive highlights yet again how out of touch elitist institutionalist decision makers are from our campus, as their decision stands tantamount to silencing those who once decided to speak. The schism between the institution and those who fund it is clear — one wants to change campus culture, one sends the message of putting rape back in the closet.