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PENCIL IT IN TUESDAY, SEPT. 23 -FALL CAREER FAIR, 11:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M., BOB CARPENTER SPORTS/ CONVOCATION CENTER -DAVID FINKEL, AUTHOR OF “THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE,” LECTURE, 5-6 P.M., MITCHELL HALL -CHINA FORUM SPEAKER, DR. PETER HERSHOCK, ON “CHINA, CLIMATE AND COMPASSION: BUDDHIST CONTRIBUTION TO AN ETHICS OF INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE” 5-6:30 P.M., KIRKBRIDE 206 -TAKE THE MIC LECTURE FEATURING MILO AUKERMAN, 7-9 P.M., GORE 102 WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 24 -DELOITTE WORKSHOP ON CASE INTERVIEWING, 5:30-7:30 P.M., WILLARD HALL, ROOM 319 -FREEDOM TO READ BANNED BOOK READ-OUT, 11 A.M - 4 P.M., SOUTH GREEN ADJACENT TO MORRIS LIBRARY -MATERIAL CULTURE OF WAR SPEAKERS SERIES, 12:30-1:10 P.M., ISE LAB 222 THURSDAY, SEPT. 25 CPAB LECTURE FEATURING STEPHEN A. SMITH, 7:30 P.M., MITCHELL HALL CENTER FOR DISABILITIES STUDIES LUNCHTIME LEARNING SESSION, 12-1 P.M., CENTER FOR DISABILITIES STUDIES FRIDAY, SEPT. 26 DAVID NORTON MEMORIAL LECTURE FEATURING DOUGLAS N. HUSAK ON “WHY DOES OUR PUNITIVE DRUG POLICY PERSIST?” 3:455:30 P.M., BACCHUS THEATER MURDER MYSTERY NIGHT, 9:00-11:00 P.M., BACCHUS THEATER GLOBAL CI DAY CELEBRATION CONCERT, 7-9 P.M., PEARSON HALL AUDITORIUM SATURDAY, SEPT. 27 MASTER PLAYERS CONCERT SERIES GALA ‘1979,’ 8 P.M., MITCHELL HALL HYPNOTIST PETER MAMOS, 8-10 P.M., PERKINS WEST LOUNGE DELAWARE AIDS WALK, 8:30 A.M., RIVERFRONT, WILMINGTON SUNDAY, SEPT. 28 CENTER FOR BLACK CULTURE: SIT-IN & STUDY, 2-6 P.M., KIRKBRIDE 204/206 11TH ANNUAL TASTE OF NEWARK, 12-3 P.M., OLD COLLEGE LAWN SCPAB PRESENTS CIRCUS ELECTRONICA, 7:30 P.M., MITCHELL HALL MONDAY, SEPT. 29 THOUGHT LEADER SPEAKER SERIES FEATURING PRESIDENT HARKER, 4-5 P.M., GORE RECITAL HALL, ROSELLE CENTER FOR THE ARTS TODD GROVES SAXAPHONE SHOW, 8 P.M., GORE RECITAL HALL, ROSELLE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 VOLUME 141, ISSUE 4
Students stage rally calling for university to “do better” in cases of sexual violence
KIRK SMITH/THE REVIEW Hundreds of students filled the steps of Memorial Hall on Friday afternoon to voice concerns about gender-based violence on campus. MEGHAN JUSCZAK Managing News Editor In the seventeen years Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs Matt Kinservik has served as a faculty member, he said he had never before seen students at the university band together like they did yesterday. A crowd of over 300 gathered on the steps of Memorial Hall Friday to shed a light on sexual violence cases on campus, and the university’s handling of complaints. The rally follows Tuesday’s article in The Review involving the alleged sexual harassment of a student by sociology professor Eric Tranby. “This is the first time I’ve seen students organize and hold an event this meaningful,” Kinservik said. “What I hear students saying is they want to be heard, they want to be taken seriously on this issue and they want to see changes.” Paramount in the reaction to the article was the student body’s concern that the university did not provide the victim with full information about the proceedings, and did not inform the rest of the university about
the situation. There is also concern surrounding the terms of Tranby’s leave. Provost Domenico Grasso sent out a university-wide email Thursday expressing the complex nature of the confidentiality agreement. The email also stated Grasso is working with Title IX Coordinator Dr. Susan Groff to organize information sessions on the university’s policies and procedures surrounding sexual harassment and sexual assault. Sophomore Sage Carson said instead of addressing the rights of the victims or students, he instead focused on unnamed inaccuracies in The Review’s coverage. “I like that they said they would go over university policy with people who are interested,” Carson said. “But at the same time, allow people to come forward and say something creative in an open forum.” Part of the reason alumna Amy Roe of Newark attended the rally yesterday—accompanied by her dog Stuart, who wore a sign reading “#UDoBetter”—was in reaction to the provost’s email, which she saw on Facebook. “It seemed as though the
provost was trying to frame the issue as a safety issue,” she said. “But women are entitled to equal rights to education under the law. This represents a civil rights issue and I think the university needs to address its issues with access to education and equality in addition to safety.” The hashtag #UDoBetter emerged after the initial release of the article and continued to gain momentum as more students became aware of the incident once they received Grasso’s email. The movement also began to extend beyond the details of Tranby’s case to the university’s general handling of sexual assault and harassment complaints. Carson, along with fellow sophomores Cassandra Steele and Matt Scott, organized yesterday’s rally as a culminating event to follow up on the anger they had seen from the university community online. “When the article was posted, it started to bring light to the situation and everyone started being outraged,” Steele said. “And we thought we needed to organize something soon, because everyone was so heated.”
Rally organizers motivated by anger, desire for change MATT BUTLER Managing News Editor Sage Carson, Matt Scott and Cassandra Steele were frustrated, and they weren’t going to take it anymore. After hearing of the sexual harassment allegations made against sociology professor Eric Tranby, Carson, Scott and Steele decided it was time set the wheels in motion for Friday’s “End the Silence, End the Shame” rally. The rally was organized to shed a light on the issue of sexual misconduct on campus. “We were very, very angry,” Scott said. Scott said when the article came out he texted Carson and that night he, Carson and Steele all met to discuss and plan the rally. Scott said the meeting was very emotional, and that he had a hard time keeping his anger with the situation in check in order to help effectively organize the rally. “In all honesty, a lot of the planning we did on Tuesday was getting our emotions out––kind of impulsive––and throughout the week we had to get a more level mind,” Scott said. After that first meeting, the group set to organizing students and professors, both in person and then through social media. Scott said they were initially nervous about promoting the rally on Facebook and other outlets for fear of administrative
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KIRK SMITH/THE REVIEW Sophomores Cassandra Steele, Matt Scott and Sage Carson stand with professor Chrysanthi Leon. The sophomores organized the “End the Silence, End the Shame” rally. intervention. his original anxiety about The three said they were attendance and people’s only further motivated by willingness to share their Provost Grasso’s open letter to stories. Scott said there were the university, which responded people who were speaking out to The Review’s article on the for the first time about their situation, which Steele called experiences with sexual assault “bullsh---”. and harassment. “What is being done about He said he could not this?” Steele said. “How can we imagine the rally going any feel safe on this campus?” better than it did, and he feels Carson said the letter, they accomplished their goals by refusing to directly take of alerting the university that responsibility for the problem, students have noticed their lack was simple finger-pointing by of attention to the problem. the university. Carson called “We also gave a very clear the letter a reactionary move message that the student body by the provost, and said if she needs to pay more attention to was a victim of sexual assault, this,” Scott said. “The stats on that letter would discourage her paper, that does not really mean from feeling brave enough to anything to [the administration], come forward. so seeing how it has affected Scott said he thought the students, hopefully that reached rally was a success, despite them.”
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LETTERS 3
Carson has issue with the university’s approach to sexual crimes, particularly regarding the commonly-seen “Speak Up, Stand Up” posters, which place blame on the people around the situation instead of the person actually committing the crime, she said. Chyrsanthi Leon, the professor who acted as an advocate for the victim in the Tranby case, began by thanking those attending for their support for her and the student. She said the victim has graduated, is doing well and was present at the rally. She also read a letter from the student. “Don’t let the event define you as a victim, but as a survivor and a hero,” read the letter. “Because when you speak up, you defend yourself, other victims and other potential victims.” Leon also emphasized the importance of yesterday’s event extended far beyond the one case, but was a “call for transparency.” She urged the university community to direct attention away from the perpetrator as well and avoid “demonizing” him. See BUSH page 2
Company behind now-nixed STAR Campus data center sued SAM RICHTER & MATT BUTLER News Assignment Editor and Managing News Editor
While the embattled The Data Centers LLC (TDC) fights off a new legal challenge, the university is searching for new–– and less controversial––tenants. TDC’s troubles did not end in July when the university terminated its lease with the firm. TDC has recently been brought under a joint legal challenge by Constructure Management Inc. and Duffield Associates. The two firms allege that TDC has failed to make payment for construction and engineering service costs that total $725,751.91 in the case of Constructure and $619,125.19 in the case of Duffield. The firms are also seeking compensation for “pre and post judgement interest, costs and attorney fees,” according to court documents. See ROE page 4
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