HEMPSTEAD, NY VOL. 80
Issue 12
The Hofstra
Chronicle
Tuesday December 2, 2014
KEEPING THE HOFSTRA COMMUNITY INFORMED SINCE 1935
Ferguson protests spark on-campus dialogue By Hillary Alexandre
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
A protest was held at 1:00 a.m. at Hofstra University after the grand jury ruled in the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown on Monday, Nov. 24. When St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCollough announced that Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for any crimes related to Brown’s death, over 100 Hofstra students began to protest the decision. The protest march started in front of the Student Center and continued out into the parking lots of the residence halls. Eddie E. Severino, a senior studying political science, woke up to loud chants outside his dorm room window in Estabrook Hall coming from the crowd of students that was a “pretty racially mixed group.” Throughout the day after the ruling, Hofstra students took to social media to voice their outrage, disappointment and shock. On Nov. 25 at 5:00 p.m., the Dean
of Students Office held a discussion on the grand jury’s decision outside of their office. “I couldn’t stay quiet and I knew there were others on campus that felt the same,” said Tyler Barragan, a sophomore studying computer science, who started the protest on campus the night of the ruling by getting the word out via Facebook and Yik Yak. “I was touched by the turn-out. A lot of people came and screamed their hearts out,” he continued. Barragan has also created the Facebook page, Hofstra Students for Justice, where conversations and information regarding the Ferguson case are shared, such as the second protest that was held on campus yesterday. The Dean of Students hallway walls were lined with chairs, filled with a group of racially diverse students ready to voice their opinion and have a
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Jesse Saunders/The Chronicle An on-campus rally in protest of the Mike Brown decision and in solidarity with the protests in Ferguson took place on campus yesterday evening. Another protest also took place last Monday after the grand jury decision was announced.
Students concerned with on-campus sexual harassment By Elizabeth Merino
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
According to a 2013 Stop Street Harassment nationwide survey, “65 percent of all women had experienced street harassment. Among all women, 23 percent had been sexually touched, 20 percent had been followed and nine percent had been forced to do something sexual.” Stop Street Harassment is defined on their website as “a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting and ending genderbased street harassment worldwide through public education and community mobilization.” “Hofstra does a decent job with making some sort of attempt, however feeble, to help so that women
don’t experience so much explicit harassment of any sort. That being said, myself, along with many of the friends I know on campus have been harassed in some form on campus at some point in time. We tend to play some things off as ‘guys just being guys,’ or ‘oh, he’s just drunk’ or my favorite ‘that’s just how he is, that’s how he talks’ ... but in reality, the harassment shouldn’t happen, regardless,” said sophomore English major Taylor Wade. According to Hofstra’s 20142015 Guide to Pride community standards, “sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other nonverbal, expressive or physical conduct of a sexual nature when such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreason-
ably interfering with an individual’s academic performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for learning or enjoying other University opportunities, programs and activities.” Public Safety has not been informed of any major reports concerning catcalling or harassment on campus, according to Director of Public Safety Karen O’Callaghan. “It is obviously something that is not appropriate and if it was reported, we would investigate, find the person and correct it,” said O’Callaghan. Hofstra has a strong written policy against sexual harassment, relationship violence, sexual assaults and discrimination of any kind. Based on this policy Hofstra has, “a commitment on the part
of our entire community to norms of interpersonal respect ensuring that no individuals are subjected to sexual misconduct, relationship violence or discriminatory harassment.” Although Hofstra has these policies in place, some students feel as though more can be done to protect women. “I was recently in a sociology of gender class and there was a student trying to argue that women owe it to someone who catcalls them to acknowledge the person so they don’t risk being followed or experience physical violence. The idea that I could potentially owe anyone who catcalls me is ridiculous, but what’s horrifying is that this line of argument acknowledges that catcalling is just the start to an individual doing
something more violent to get a woman’s attention,” said junior women’s studies and sociology major Karla Bradley. One male student said he witnessed a different kind of catcalling on campus, a type that many might not even consider a form of harassment. “I’ve seen men turn around and stuff, not really approach the ladies, just really looking,” said junior mechanical engineering major Josh Singh. Street harassment can be more than just words that are yelled from across a road. Other instances, as listed in the Pride to Guide Handbook, include unwanted flirtation, propositions of sexual nature and unwelcome
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