Ruby Chapdelaine motions for the march against sexual assault on campus to start at Centennial Mall on Western Kentucky University’s campus. “I think we've been really impactful on the community. I get a lot of messages saying ‘thank you guys for being disruptive. Bowling Green needs it,” said Chapdelaine.
(Above) Ruby Chapdelaine talks to the local news at the march she organized with Bowling Green Survivor’s Collective and Rise and Shine in protest against rape culture on WKU’s campus in light of a lawsuit made against the University by a student who was raped at a campus fraternity on Feb. 18, 2022.
A Spoken Survivor
On February 7, 2022, a student of Western Kentucky University filed a lawsuit against the school as well as the Kappa Delta sorority, Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, and 17 more defendants for failing to take action against her rapist. The rape happened a year before the lawsuit happened and nothing was done about it before then. This lawsuit brought up the discussion about WKU’s rape culture. A nurse at WKU said in an article for WBKO that she sees sexual assault cases almost weekly at Western. After this information was made public, students of Western Kentucky University came together to march in support of sexual assault victims.
Ruby Chapdelaine, a student at WKU and founder of the Bowling Green Survivors Collective, lead the march with other members from the Collective and the Bowling Green Rise and Shine Movement. Chapdelaine co-founded the Collective after she came out publicly about her own sexual assault in 2021. She spoke the name of her assaulter and made people aware of the actions he had done against her. After this, many other women came forward about their experiences with him. This inspired her to create a community.
The Collective is meant to create a safe space for people who have gone through sexual assault and show support for each other. “The main goal of BGSC is to raise consciousness and spread awareness of these issues. This organization and the resources we provide are open to anyone of any identity, [people of color, lgbtq+, women], meaning men as well,” said Chapdelaine.
Bowling Green community members carry signs in protest of WKU’s handling of a rape case at the protest put together by Chapdelaine. “[One] goal is to hold assaulters accountable so the public is aware of their wrongdoings. In doing this, assaulters feel afraid to live their lives similarly to how their victims are afraid. Many assaulters find themselves in high positions of power whether that is in politics, music, journalism, and more. With their power, they can easily take advantage of those vulnerable because they are seen to be trustworthy,” said Chapdelaine.
Leading the BGSC protest against sexual violence up Western Kentucky University’s campus, Chapdelaine shouts chants made for the march. The chants consisted of “No means no,” “Hey hey, ho ho, sexual assaulters have got to go,” and other chants that were posted prior to the march so people could chant with the group. The march began on Centennial Mall, through Down Student Union and ended in front of Cherry Hall where people shared their experiences with sexual assault.
Since then, the Collective has made a Discord server for people to discuss. They also take direct messages from people warning about dangerous behavior from people on campus and post about it to create safety and awareness of these actions.
“We get death threats a lot, it’s kind of scary,” said Chapdelaine. “It's made assaulters afraid, which they should be. They don't deserve peace, if they keep harming people and getting away with it. It's kind of scary, though, because now I'm a target. But I mean, I'm moving out anyways. But also with a community, we're stronger in numbers. So I am protected in that way.”
The community in Bowling Green seems more dangerous to Chapdelaine since her assault. According to Chapdelaine, the Bowling Green music scene has had numerous incidents with uplifting assaulters in bands, assaulter apologists and defenders, and assault incidents. Chapdelaine said this is mainly because of the prominence the music scene in Bowling Green has. “Many assaulters find themselves in high positions of power whether that is in politics, music, journalism, and more. With their power, they can easily take advantage of those vulnerable because they are seen to be trustworthy,” said Chapdelaine.“I just don’t feel safe going to bars or shows anymore which sucks because I love house shows and concerts.”
At the Preston Campus Recreation Center, early in the morning, Chapdelaine lifts weights at the Preston Campus Recreation Center on April 25, 2022. Chapdelaine’s daily schedule begins at 4 a.m. when she has to work the morning shift at Starbucks. Afterwards, she goes to the gym around 6 a.m. before going home to shower before classes start. “I have to go to bed at 7 p.m. every night to get a full night’s rest for the day,” said Chapdelaine.
Chapdelaine stretches before working out at Preston Center on April 15, 2022. “Part of the reason I started working out was because I was playing guitar for like six months, like, one or two hours a day, I was really excited to get really good at it and then all of a sudden, I just started developing like trigger points in my back from it, which is really painful. I can feel my muscles click no matter how many chiropractic appointments I go to. So then I started weightlifting and I have noticed a big difference with it, but it's really small,” said Chapdelaine.
Chapdelaine works out on the rowing machine at Preston Center on April 15, 2022. Because of the tense muscles in her shoulders from playing guitar, she focuses a lot on shoulder stretches and exercises before weightlifting since October 2021. One of the exercises is inspired by a Filipino dance that her mother taught her. The hand movements of the dance combined with carrying a weight help strengthen the shoulder. This helps in making weightlifting less painful for Chapdelaine. “For different days, I have a little routine I do with different muscle groups. Back days are my favorite because it helps with the trigger points. It's like a mixture of a bunch of different workouts,” said Chapdelaine. These different routines focus on back, arm, chest, glutes and legs.” When she began weightlifting her freshman year, she was at 55 pounds on the leg press bar and is now up to 190 pounds.
The WKU choir and Chapdelaine perform a group number at the ‘I Dream a World’ showcase at Van Meter Auditorium on April 24, 2022. The event was inspired by the Langston Hughes poem of the same name where the themes of the songs reflected the ideal socially just world Hughes describes. Chapdelaine sings in WKU’s all-women choir, the Treble Chorus. “It feels like a safer and more enjoyable space being in the all-girl group,” said Chapdelaine.
Chapdelaine has taken up singing and weight lifting over the last year and she said it feels like it gives her some control. “It's a good stress reliever. It's also really empowering because I notice changes in my body, even if they're small. Not just appearance wise. So that does help make me feel safer. But I feel like I'm still not strong enough to like beat up a guy who's trying to assault me. So, there's a lot that you can do, but not necessarily prevent it.”
She has become more interested in social anthropology to study the dynamics between people in modern situations. As she is graduating soon, she looks forward to moving to Nashville to work on a career in women’s healthcare and specifically focus on the social justice aspects of it. “OBGYN does have the same level of certification or experience as other areas in healthcare, but they get paid less. And it's only because they work with a marginalized group,” said Chapdelaine. “There's a lot of illnesses, diseases and conditions in women's health care that just has no research on it. There's just not a lot of money going into this form of health care so, it's really important that good people are working on it.”
Dr. Kristi Branham talks to Chapdelaine at the English department’s senior award ceremony in Cherry Hall on April 22, 2022. Branham was Ruby’s favorite Gender and Women’s Studies professor. Chapdelaine was awarded Outstanding Graduate in the GWS Minor for her work in classes and the BGSC. Chapdelaine originally came to WKU to be a Biology major. “I was feeling very isolated. Because when you look at general biology majors, it's mostly like straight, upper middle class white people. I don't really fall into that category as a gay, Asian, artsier person,” said Chapdelaine. She then switched to studying Gender Women’s Studies and Anthropology.
Madeline DeJesus models a dress for Chapdelaine’s opinion in the dressing room at Dillard’s at Greenwood Mall. DeJesus and Chapdelaine were looking for graduation dresses. “I'll miss my friends. I've made a lot of great friends here. I'll miss having my own apartment. I'll even miss some of my coworkers. And I'll probably miss being in a walkable community like a university. And I'll miss the gym because the gym is really nice,” said Chapdelaine.
“I've actually decided, I'm going to step away from [the survivor’s collective] when I move out. It has helped my healing in a lot of ways. But at this point, there's kind of just like so much drama…drama in the sense it's like a lot of emotional events that just keeps happening.It's very draining, it can be very triggering…I don't think anyone wants to take up those responsibilities.”
Chapdelaine is going to keep the Instagram and the discord up in case anyone wants to continue the work under the BGSC name. “But I really need to take a step back, because it's been really draining on my mental health. I mean, I won't be in Bowling Green anyways, to do stuff with the community. I’ll also be really busy with my studies going in and surgical technology. So I feel like I should really focus on that.”
Chapdelaine is excited to graduate in Spring 2022 and move to Nashville. “After what I've been through in Bowling Green, I really want to feel like it'd be a huge weight off my chest,” said Chapdelaine. She said she will miss her friends, her professors and being in a walkable community but it’ll be better to live in a community actively fighting sexual assault. “There's a lot of trauma to happen at WKU that I’m excited to get away from.”
Chapdelaine models one of many dresses chosen from Dillard’s to possibly be the graduation dress. Chapdelaine will graduate from Western Kentucky University on May 5, 2022 and will be recognized at the Potter College of Arts and Letters ceremony on May 6. “I’m going to get the blue one so I can wear my red Doc’s and look like Dorothy,” said Chapdelaine.
“After what I've been through in Bowling Green, I really feel like moving would be a huge weight off my chest.”
— Ruby Chapdelaine
Chapdelaine holds her roommate, Autumn’s, cat named Kiwi in a spare room in their apartment where Ruby is organizing clothes she wants to sell before moving to Nashville. “After what I've been through in Bowling Green, I really feel like moving would be a huge weight off my chest. I really love my parents. And they both have pretty poor health. Especially my dad… I’d like to be near them and take care of them. Living with them, there'll be some changes and some issues. But I'm excited because, I was so quick to go to college after graduating high school because my relationship down there was just like awful. I felt so much better. So I have more freedom than I did. I'm excited for that. I'm excited to explore Nashville and enjoy the music scene. I have friends in bands who are like making it a priority that abusers are not welcome at their shows. So I'm excited to go to shows like that.”