Spotlight on #MeToo: On Campus & Beyond

The Spotlight on #MeToo: On Campus & Beyond will be held on April 16 at 6 p.m. and the symposium will be located in the TLC room 1303. The event is designed to let students and experts engage in a discussion about issues of gendered harassment and violence that students face both on and off campus.

The schedule of the event will start with four speakers qualified to talk about the topic, then their selected student respondents will ask them questions. Lastly, the conversation will be open to the audience to ask questions and share views with the speakers.

The #MeToo movement was founded in 2006 to help survivors of sexual violence find pathways to healing. The organization was founded by Tarana Burke when she wanted to support women of color who have experienced it. During the fall of 2017, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged all women who had been either sexually harassed or assaulted to use the hashtag and it went viral.

The four speakers of this spring’s symposium are Deirde Haywood Rouse, Mr. Corey Hindaman, student advocate, Dr. N. Jane McCandless, Dean of College of Social Sciences and Dr. Stephanie Chalifoux, assistant professor of history.

“I am a historian of US women,” said Chalifoux. “As such, I see the #MeToo movement as an important moment for women and one that is leading to more awareness about sexual violence. #MeToo dates back to 2006, but efforts to seek justice and to bring awareness have a much longer history in the US. I hope that I can add some historical context during the Spotlight event, learn from my peers on the panel, and engage with the audience who may have questions about the subject.” 

Dr. Misty Wilson, lecturer of communications, is the faculty member in charge of coordinating this event. There are a few faulty members that trade-off turns of being in charge and this year Wilson took the job.

“My job was to find out what the symposium will cover, then have to start looking for speakers with well-informed opinions,” said Wilson. “This symposium will open up a discussion, a much-needed discussion, about something that is not easy to talk about to a degree about what you’ve experienced.”

The #MeToo movement is still growing by the day. Amy Russo on the online news source Metoomvmt.org shared that Tarana Burke, the activist who founded the Me Too movement against sexual abuse more than a decade ago, is launching a new public service announcement campaign to remind survivors they are not alone.

Burke told Huffington Post she hopes the PSAs will show that #MeToo goes beyond outing offenders. It also aims to empower survivors.

“It’s about survivors regaining control of their own stories and taking hold of their own healing journeys,” Burke said. “If the PSAs empower one person to gather the resources, they need to begin their own recovery ― whether that’s telling their story or seeking justice in whatever way feels right for them.”