Syracuse University students are planning to walk out of classes and rally on the Quad Thursday in protest of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.

Organizers of the SU walkout said they want to bring awareness to sexual assault and rape culture on campus and show solidarity with Christine Blasey Ford, the first of three women to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. The Senate is expected to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination this week as the FBI investigates the allegations against him.     

“This is not only something that’s happening nationally, but happening within our university, so what this walk out really is for us is to demand (university) administration to hear us and to end rape culture all around,” said Crystal Letona, an SU senior and president of Students Advocating Sexual Safety and Empowerment.

SASSE is a student-run organization that aims to end violence against women and educate students about sexual health. Letona is organizing the walkout with College Democrats and SU’s chapter of the International Socialist Organization.

Ford alleges that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school house party in the summer of 1982. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from both Kavanaugh and Ford last Thursday, sparking a protest of more than 50 people on SU’s Quad. Kavanaugh has denied sexual assault allegations made by Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick.

Protesters called for senators to reject Kavanaugh’s nomination, and several people said they or people they know had experienced sexual assault as children or teenagers. Some sexual assault survivors said they hadn’t spoken about their experiences before because they didn’t think anyone would believe them.

Letona and Clark Bermudez, a student at SUNY-ESF and a member of ISO, planned last week’s protest. They both said their goals for the walkout are to hear from a variety of voices about their experiences of sexual assault and harassment, and to brainstorm solutions for these issues.

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Bermudez said the walkout will focus on “coalition-building” and bringing different student organizations together. They added that they aim to bring attention to the relationship between how sexual assault allegations are treated within national institutions and on college campuses.

“Our hope is to keep building and to step it up so we can both show people across the country and the university that we’re not backing down from this issue at any level,” Bermudez said.

Sarah Epelman, a former president of SU’s College Democrats who’s also organizing Thursday’s walkout, said the protesters will call on university administration to take cases of sexual assault more seriously.  

“It’s not just about Kavanaugh because nothing is just about Kavanaugh,” Epelman said. “There is a bigger picture to this, and we have to start somewhere, and starting with our school administration is a step in the right direction.”

Epelman, an SU senior, said that during her four years on campus, several friends have confided in her about their experiences of sexual assault on campus.

“Forget asking at this point,” Letona said. “We’re demanding for them to hear us out.”

Published on October 3, 2018 at 8:50 pm

Contact Casey: casey@dailyorange.com | @caseydarnell_