Trinity Symposium on #MeToo and Sexual Violence: Wednesday, April 3, 2019

9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Payden Academic Center

Sexual violence is a major systemic problem throughout our society, infecting major institutions and leaving individual lives devastated. As THE leading institution for women in the nation’s capital, with a deep commitment to social justice, Trinity Washington University plays a key role as a leader in convening scholars, students, advocates, survivors and service providers to learn together about all dimensions of this grievous problem and to be a voice for solutions within all of the communities and organizations touched by members of our campus community.

Trinity will host a full day to focus on this important topic from a number of perspectives. The Symposium will feature engaging panels with students and faculty giving presentations and leading discussions; outside speakers; poster presentations from class assignments; a resource fair in the Payden Academic Center lobby with healthcare professionals and representatives of various advocacy and counseling groups. In addition, films on related topics will be shown during the week.

One day is not the end; Trinity envisions ongoing programming on this topic with the April symposium as a launch for a more vigorous ongoing discussion.

As with prior symposia at Trinity (Trinity hosted two last year – Dreamers in fall 2017 and Gun Violence in spring 2018), Trinity encourages all faculty and students to participate in several ways. Certainly by attending the sessions, but more importantly for the learning values, many faculty will use the themes the group has identified, and other related topics, as material in courses, and have students work on papers or other presentations that could be part of the public programming. Download a flier for the Symposium.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019, Payden Academic Center

9:15 am Welcome and Setting the Framework, AC 104

  • President Patricia McGuire

9:30 am Sexual Violence Across Institutions:  Manifestation of sexual violence in the military, the workplace, sports, and religion.

  • Sr. Mary Johnson, SND, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies
  • Mr. Thomas Mostowy, Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice and SPS Associate Dean
  • Dr. Lynda Jackson, Assistant Professor, Business Administration
  • Ms. Tracey Prince-Ross, Executive Director, Human Resources

10:00 am – 1:00 pm  #MeToo and Sexual Violence Resource Fair
AC Lobby

10:30 am    Sexual Violence in Education Spaces,  AC 104

  • Dr. Cynthia Greer, Associate Professor of Education
  • Dr. Deborah Taub, Assistant Professor of Education
  • Dr. Luane Oprea, Assistant Professor of Counseling
  • Dr. Diane Reese, Assistant Professor of Counseling
  • Dr. Gladys Williams, Director of the Educational Administration Program
  • R. Kyle Bivens, Clinical Social Worker, Child and Adolescent Protection Center – Children’s National Health System

11:30 am    Survivorship: Strategies for Empowerment:  Helping victims of sexual violence to move beyond hurt to thriving, AC 104

  • Dr. Carrie O’Reilly, Assistant Professor of Nursing
  • Leise Gergely, Senior Case Manager, Network for Victim Recovery of DC
  • Nursing students

 [Boxed Lunches Available for Pickup Between Sessions]

12:30 pm   Preventing Sexual Violence: Strategies for prevention, including the need to address the phenomenon of disengaged bystanders and those who are complicit in sexual violence
AC 104

  • Dr. Jamey Piland, Associate Professor of Communication and Women’s Studies

1:15 pm    Health Professions Responses to Sexual Violence
AC 104

  • Dr. Mary Bantell, Associate Professor of Nursing and MSN Program Director

1:30 pm    Parallel In-Class Session: From Victorians to Millennials: Gender, Sexuality and Violence in Literature, AC 103

  • Ameenah Johnson ‘19 and Shanice Cephas ‘20 will present to students in Dr. Elizabeth Child’s ENGL 150 Class (1:30 pm-2:45 pm, relocated to room AC 103). Visitors are welcome to attend.

2:00 pm The R. Kelly Case and Sexual Violence Among Entertainment Figures
AC 104

  • Dr. Christopher Bishop, Associate Professor of Psychology/Forensic Psychologist
  • Dr. Gizelle Carr, Assistant Professor of Psychology/Forensic Psychologist, Howard University
  • Dr. Katara Watkins-Laws, Staff Psychologist/Research is sex trafficking, DC Superior Court
  • Dr. Charla McKinzie-Bishop, Associate Professor of Child & Adolescents/ Applied Developmental/ Research is Adolescent Development, Bowie State University

3:00 pm Gender, Race, Sexuality and Culture:  Intersections and Influences
AC 104

4:30 pm Trinity Policies and Resources for Sexual Assault Prevention and Assistance
Wrap up:  What’s next to improve community awareness and support?
AC 104

Ongoing Programming

Films and discussion presented by the Library, Trisha Smith, chair

Sexual Violence Resources

Trinity resources are available to the campus community at all times. On the day of the symposium, April, 3, from 10 am -1pm, Dr. Karen Gerlach has arranged for the following resources to be provided by Trinity and other community partners in the Payden Academic Center lobby.

  • DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence
  • DC Rape Crisis Center
  • Metropolitan Police Department, Victims Specialist Unit
  • The Women’s Center
  • Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC)
  • Trinity Campus Ministry
  • Trinity Health and Wellness Center
  • Trinity Library
  • Trinity Student Affairs
  • Trinity Title IX
  • Trinity Women’s Studies and WSAC

Themes and Topics to Be Explored

Successful Survivorship and Strategies for Empowerment: This theme will include topics on how victims of sexual violence can recover and move from hurting to thriving; consideration of the physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual dimensions of supporting and working with survivors, and resources including resources on how to prevent sexual violence.

Law and Policy on Sexual Violence: This session will cover Title IX and the recent U.S. Department of Education rollback of sexual assault protections on campus; the Michigan State case and Larry Nasser; the larger context for law and policy on sexual assault and gender violence, and shifting legal norms; the social history and power structures undergirding laws on sexual violence; legal advocacy and legal resources for victims.

Media/Social Media and Sexual Violence: This theme will include topics such as the role of social media in encouraging sexual violence; news coverage of sexual predators and sexual assault; prevalence of sexual predators in major media companies; treatment of sexual violence in video entertainment; amounts of attention given to white victims and lack of media attention to victims of color or LGBTQ; how popular culture perpetrates sexual violence

R. Kelly Documentary, Sexual Violence and Film: This session will include viewing the R. Kelly documentary and discussion of sexual violence issues in film and entertainment.

Power Structures and Institutional Failures in Sexual Violence Cases: This session examine the ways in which major institutions have allowed sexual violence to occur without reporting or penalties for perpetrators. Churches, corporations, universities, sports and other major institutions all have notorious cases of sexual predation, and in all cases the power structures have repressed the rights of victims and protected predators. The discussion will also look at grooming as a significant issue in notable cases, including Sandusky and Penn State, Nasser and Michigan State, Cardinal McCarrick, Matt Lauer, Harvey Weinstein, Les Moonves, R. Kelly.

Health Professions Responses to Sexual Violence: This theme will engage nursing and occupational therapy students in developing expertise in the American Nursing Association standards on caring for victims of sexual violence. In addition, a topic within this theme will also take a look at sexual harassment and assault in healthcare settings.

Sexual Violence in Educational Spaces: Building on the work that a faculty team in the School of Education is already doing in preparation for a symposium on Adverse Childhood Experiences on Thursday, April 25, this session will address topics of sexual violence against children in schools, particularly in light of notorious cases in area school systems.

Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Culture: Intersections and Influences: This topic will explore the way identities intersect to impact the experience of sexual violence. This includes intimate partner violence in the LGBTQ community, domestic and sexual violence in the black community, and how race impacts law enforcement in cases of sexual violence.

Domestic Violence and the Crisis at the Border: This topic addresses the conditions of sexual violence in Central American countries that are part of the immigration and refugee crisis at the border.

Preventing Sexual Violence: This theme focuses on strategies for prevention, including the need to address the phenomenon of disengaged bystanders and people who are complicit in sexual violence because they could help to end it

From Anita Hill to Christine Blasey Ford: Did We Learn anything?: This discussion will focus on the trajectory of cases across the last 30 years involving women accusing powerful men, what happened and whether anything really changed.

Resources at Trinity and Outside Partners to Educate, Prevent and Support: Trinity’s Student Affairs team will coordinate a resource fair with outside agencies and Trinity’s clinical partners, as well as Trinity resources.