UPPER PLACE RIEL — The University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union is under fire after a film screening in observance of International Women’s Day drew protest from student groups. Speaking to the Sheaf, Chad Szyszka, USSU vice-president student-affairs, expressed regret over selecting the 2004 film White Chicks for screening.
“I don’t know,” Szyszka said. “I just saw the thumbnail on Netflix and it seemed like it would be fine. It was recommended under movies you might like if you enjoyed Mad Max: Fury Road, so I thought, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ Don’t get me wrong — I do regret it, but everything else aside, it was still kind of a funny movie, right?”
While multiple USSU student groups and centres boycotted the screening, not all on the USSU are throwing Szyszka under the bus. USSU press secretary Mark Irons defended the choice of film in a published statement.
“The uproar against the USSU’s screening of this important, third-wave feminist artistic statement is wholly unwarranted,” Irons writes. “White Chicks is an uplifting, intersectional story about women in law enforcement and the obstacles inherent in being a female in a toxically masculine environment. It even passes the Bechdel Test.”
At the time of print, the USSU is considering canceling next month’s Big Momma’s House movie marathon charity fundraiser.