SGA program to host speakers on sexual misconduct

Skidmore will be the location this week of a two-part lecture series to raise awareness about combatting sexual and gender-based misconduct on campus. Two guest speakers—Tim Mousseau and Liz Seccuro—will help frame the conversations. The programs are sponsored by It’s Happening Here, a gender-neutral Student Government Association campaign to combat sexual and gender-based misconduct at Skidmore. Both events will take place in Davis Auditorium, Palamountain Hall, and will be followed by receptions. Details follow.

Wednesday, April 15, 6:30 p.m.— Tim Mousseau will discuss “Retaking Our Story: Reframing the Sexual Assault Conversation.”

Mousseau has been active on college campuses educating students about leadership and how bring an end to sexual assault. He is a sexual assault survivor who has used his story to empower other others to take a stand against sexual assault. Mousseau graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2011 and received a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga in 2013. He now draws from his personal experiences and education to mobilize students to become leaders in stopping issues of sexual assault on campuses across the country.

Friday, April 17, 3:30 p.m. — Liz Seccuro will discuss “Social Media and Sexual Violence: How Technology Helps and Harms Students and Campuses.”

Seccuro is a victim’s rights advocate and author of the memoir Crash Into Me: A Survivor’s Search for Justice. Her story is unique. Twenty-one years after she was sexually assaulted by a group of male students at the University of Virginia, one of her assailants contacted her to make amends.  She said that her school offered her no help after the 1984 incident, but she obtained justice when her assailant served prison time and completed community service. Seccuro is an activist in combating sexual assault on college campuses and teaches at Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Journalism.