On April 21, Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis presented a conversation with activist and Me Too movement founder Tarana Burke as a part of the Presidential Lecture Series.
As modeled by the creator of the #MeToo movement, the incomparable Tarana Burke, we could create spaces where survivors can come together for solidarity, a chance to share their stories and community healing. Together, we could go far beyond.
I was shocked that a campus administration that has vocalized its support of Dreamers, Muslims and transgender people in this past year alone has not made an active effort to tell the survivors of abuse on its campus that it stands with them.
Halfway through a conversation about how women and femmes often downplay encounters that constitute harassment or assault by saying “It’s just par for the course” or “He didn’t mean it” or “That’s just the way it is,” I realized I had been doing the exact same thing.