I Was Ousted From Her Campus

I am – I was a member of the Western University chapter for the online publication HerCampus.com for over a year. I’m still getting used to saying that in past tense. Coming to university last year, I really struggled with finding my place and making friends; Her Campus got me through my first year. Because of Her Campus, I made some of my best friends and found a home away from home.

Because of Her Campus, I discovered a passion for writing that I didn’t think I had in me.

Because of Her Campus, or rather, the people in charge of the Her Campus Western chapter this year, I have now been displaced from that home, left reeling, and wondering if I’ll ever find that sense of community again.

I wrote my first article of the new school year and placed it in the team spreadsheet to be edited and published. There were differences of opinions about very minor aspects of the wording and layout of the article. I talked about these issues with the editing team and thought everything had been resolved, only to look at the published piece later and find that there were several changes that had been made without my knowledge or consent. I, quite politely, I thought, asked the editors to reverse the changes to reflect the article that I had originally written, only to be told that there were “visual standards and guidelines” in place to keep all articles cohesive and my original wording “disrupted the flow of the piece.” At no point last year, under different leadership, were changes like these ever made, especially without the consent of the author. Suggestions were made during the editing process, but it was at the discretion of the author whether or not she choose to use those suggestions. It seemed as though everything was changing because of two girls’ personal preference, which disregarded the independence and integrity of the writers.

After explaining the situation to other girls that I know on the executive team, I was told that in no way did the national guidelines allow senior members to change an author’s work without their consent. I calmly, but assertively, expressed my disagreement with the situation, letting them know that I didn’t appreciate changes being made to my article without my knowledge, especially changes that I felt diminished my writing. I stated that the revisions added nothing to the quality of the piece and were simply made because that’s what one person thought was “better.” I had always been under the impression that the editing process was about finding grammatical mistakes and improving the flow of the article as a whole, not rearranging the entire layout of the piece.

After voicing this opinion, I was told that I should talk face-to-face with the President and Editor-in-Chief after our writer’s meeting that day. I assumed that this meeting would be a chance for us to work out a compromise on how the article would get published and how we would move forward in the future. After thinking about it throughout the day, I came to the conclusion that I would be willing to let them publish the article how they wanted. They were minor changes and, while I was upset with how the editor went about the situation without my consent, it wasn’t that big of a deal.

However, it never came to that. They had no intention of compromising with me on anything. They pulled me out into the hallway, away from the inquisitive eyes of the rest of the team, and ambushed me with a “disciplinary meeting” about how disrespectful and inappropriate my message had been (if they think that my message was inappropriate in any way, they have clearly never actually been disrespected before). The situation no longer had anything to do with my article and became entirely about my “mistreatment” of them. At this point, I was completely in shock about what was happening. I realized that this gathering had been about punishing me for voicing an opinion that differed from their own, and bullying me into getting what they wanted — blind obedience. Defeated, I simply told them, “Don’t publish my article at all. I’m done.”

As I walked away, a snide, juvenile comment was made behind my back, which eased the sadness I felt at the realization that I could no longer be a part of this amazing community of women. If this was what the Western chapter was going to dissolve into under this new rule, perhaps it was better that I was getting out before I could get hurt any more than I already had been. I should not have felt like a child being scolded for getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar. We are all adults. It was not the job of the executives to chastise and berate me, especially in matters as unjustified as this one.

Minutes after the meeting, I was unceremoniously removed from all the member Facebook groups and later received an email saying that I would no longer be welcome to contribute to the Her Campus Western team, despite our official “three strikes” policy. I don’t think that anyone would ever be able to make it to three strikes if this is the response I got after simply voicing a concern.

I want people to hear this story because I don’t think it’s right that two girls were allowed to kick me off of a team that I had been so dedicated to for the past year, simply because I expressed a view that didn’t coincide with their own. The situation was blown completely out of proportion and quickly veered off from the article itself to the personal beliefs of two individuals. People should know what kind of an organization the Her Campus Western chapter has become under a new presidency. I hope that my story can save other people from the hurt that I have gone through because of this situation.

It’s unfortunate that a publication that is supposedly dedicated to “women empowering women” allowed two women – who had no problem promptly excluding me for having a different opinion – to inherit the incredible honour of heading this chapter. Her Campus is supposed to be about writing what you want and how you want. It should not be about standardizing everyone’s work so that it’s impossible to differentiate one author from the next. It saddens me that my time with Her Campus has seemingly come to an end because it was such an important part of my life for the past year. But if this reformed Her Campus is all that’s left for me, I think it’s for the best that we parted ways when we did.

No woman who ever made history ever said to herself, “Hmm, maybe I should silence my voice so as not to rock the boat.” Perhaps she thought it, for a very brief moment, but she certainly never actually did it. So, even with as much pain as it’s caused me, I’m glad that I was strong enough to stand up for what I believed in, which is something that I learned from the previous Her Campus Western.