News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Students and faculty at Tennessee Tech participated in a sit-in at the Volpe Library on campus to support sexual assault victims and protest Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
TTU student Hope Brumit said she supports Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s decision to come forward and share her story.
“I am disgusted at the amount of people that I have seen coming out of the woodwork to say that [Dr. Ford] should not have even been heard,” Brumit said. “I believe that victims or anyone making accusations should have the right to have those accusations be heard, to be determined whether they would be true or false. They have the right to a voice.”
TTU student Monet Boardman is the President of Students Advocating Gender Equality (SAGE). She said a lot of the reaction towards the Kavanaugh and Ford testimonies have come from faculty on campus.
“There’s people who are just outright disgusted and upset that it’s happening again and it’s not being taken seriously,” Boardman said. “Well, here we are. We’re here, we care, we want things to change, and we want to do so respectfully. I want to emphasize this is a non-partisan issue. Respect for women should be all parties concerned.”
Andrew Smith is an English and Religious Studies Instructor at TTU. He advises others in positions of power not to abuse it in today’s society.
“As a man in a position of power, as a professor and a pastor, the chance that I could abuse my power in my relationships with females is a very possible situation for any male in power in this culture,” Smith said. “The cards are always stacked in our favor in those situations. So I think it’s important that I’m accountable and subject myself to the same standards that all other professionals are subjected to.”
Smith said having departments like student affairs communicate with groups on campus – such as fraternities and sororities, for example – can help teach students about sexual assault and harassment.
“I think the college campuses are the testing grounds for teaching men and women about consent, about boundaries, and about issues like alcoholism like binge-drinking that have come up in the case of Kavanaugh,” Smith said. “My wife and I, we watched a protest on TV yesterday, and I was thinking it’d be great to go to a protest about this issue. We opened up an email and these fine, wonderful, outstanding students invited us to a rally, so we’re really glad to be here.”
Boardman said it meant a lot to her to see others come out to the library Monday in support of sexual assault victims.
“It means that some people listen, some people care, some people have experienced what we’ve experienced and are just as tired of it,” Boardman said. “We want things to change. Change doesn’t happen by sitting around and doing nothing. Change happens by making our voices heard, by exercising our right to protest, and to let other people know that we are concerned and things should change.”
Kavanaugh and Ford’s hearings Thursday sparked debate across the country over sexual assault. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 in favor of Kavanaugh. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday a vote to decide whether Kavanaugh is selected to the Supreme Court could take place this week.
