The Statesman 01-29-18

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Monday, January 29, 2018

Volume LXI, Issue 16

sbstatesman.com

Women's Swimming and Diving head coach allegedly fired By Gregory Zarb Sports Editor

ALEEZA KAZMI / THE STATESMAN

#MeToo founder Tarana Burke sits with a panel of members from i-tri, a Long Island women's group, on Jan. 28 in the Sidney Gelber Auditorium. The panelists discussed issues around the #MeToo movement including sexual assault.

#MeToo founder Tarana Burke speaks to SBU students By Rebecca Liebson News Editor

“When is the last time you attended a community conversation on sexual violence?” Tarana Burke asked a crowd of over 400 in the Sidney Gelber Auditorium. “It wasn’t very long ago that those of us who do this work had to do so almost covertly.” Burke, the founder of the widespread #MeToo movement, shared her experiences as an activist and survivor of sexual assault at a public forum on Sunday, Jan. 27. The event organized by i-tri — a group promoting women’s

empowerment through triathlons — and L.I. Against Domestic Violence sought to bring the national discussion on sexual assault back down to the local level. #MeToo went viral in October after actress Alyssa Milano encouraged women to share their stories about sexual harassment on Twitter. Although the Twitter hashtag has helped introduce many to Me Too, Burke originally coined the phrase in 2006 as a part of her own campaign to empower women of color who have experienced sexual harassment. “At first I was terrified that my work was going to be erased,”

Burke said. “The initial sentiment [on Twitter] was really around sexual harassment in the workplace, which was not the work that I was engaged in.” Burke’s friends encouraged her to speak up and take credit for Me Too, but she wasn’t sure how to approach the situation. “I had to decide, am I going to be in conflict or in service?” Burke said. On Oct. 15, she responded by posting an old video of her explaining what Me Too is and what the movement’s goals are. In the months since, thousands of survivors have shared their

stories with the hashtag Me Too, and the movement has evolved to include a whole host of issues related to sexual assault. One of the moderators of the forum, i-tri alumna Maria Chavez, shared her own Me Too experience with the audience. “There was a day in my journalism course, we had to discuss if it is okay for comedians to make rape jokes,” she said. “Like I said before I am a sexual assault survivor, and I just couldn’t find a way to say something.” Continued on page 4

New student media organization covers human rights

By Brianne Ledda Staff Writer

Audrey Farrell, a sophomore physics major, has started an online magazine known as The Advocate that went live just before the start of the semester. The club’s goal is to place an emphasis on global social justice issues with a Stony Brook twist. “We can highlight places where students are making a positive difference around the world, and we can get expert opinions from faculty,” Farrell said. “We’ve got a lot of really prestigious faculty

here that can weigh in on their more academic opinion and get the feel for what the Stony Brook community is feeling about certain social issues, and issues in human rights around the world.” Farrell said she started paying attention to the news during the 2016 election. However, she found that she wasn’t able to discuss global issues with her friends, who were mostly unaware of international news. “I remember specifically hear-

Continued on page 4

News

Arts & Entertainment

A Stony Brook University research facility is devastated.

The trio’s third album runs 10 tracks too long.

Cyclone Ava hits Centre ValBio.

MORE ON PAGE 4

FACEBOOK

The Advocate's logo. The online student publication was launched by Audrey Farrell just before Fall 2018.

Stony Brook Women’s Swimming and Diving Head Coach Janelle Atkinson has allegedly been fired from her position, effective immediately. Her firing comes less than a year after she was hired, when the swimming and diving team returned from a five-year hiatus due to renovations of the university pool. The Seawolves had a roster of 13 members at the start of the season last fall, but there are now only six swimmers listed on the roster on the Athletics website. Throughout the season, there were rumors of mental abuse coming from the hands of Atkinson. Some swimmers reached out to swimswam.com, an online publication devoted to national, international, collegiate and local swimming and diving news. In an article published on Jan. 26 about Atkinson’s firing, Arianna Rodriguez, a former member of the team, detailed many instances and examples of mental abuse cast onto them by Atkinson throughout the past several months. Profiles and photos for Atkinson, along with her assistant coach Jordan Bowen, have been taken down from the Athletics website under the women’s swimming and diving roster. Atkinson was born in Jamaica and represented her country in the 1999 Pan American Games, where she won three silver medals in the 200, 400 and 800 meter freestyle. She competed in both the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics but did not win a medal. Before coming to Stony Brook, Atkinson was the head coach of the swimming and diving program at Fairfield University. She coached there for two years before stepping down. She also was an assistant coach for the UConn women’s swimming and diving team and an assistant swimming coach at Wright State University. The Statesman reached out to Stony Brook Athletics for comment, but they did not respond at the time of publication of this story.

Opinions

Sports

A student shares thoughts on the DACA debate.

Foul trouble plagues Seawolves in home loss.

Migos’ “Culture II” lacks depth.

The DACA decision affects me.

MORE ON PAGE 6

MORE ON PAGE 8

Men’s Basketball falls to Albany. MORE ON PAGE 12


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