A part of the Campus Climate Dialogues: Sexual Harassment/Assault put on a session regarding the #MeToo movement. The session began with an overview on Campus Climate Conversation Guidelines to set a safe space and environment for the participants. The participants varied from different ages and professions and from students to faculty.

After setting a safe space and environment, the participants were informed that Times Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2017 was the “Silence Breakers”, a group of people known for breaking the silence on the issue of sexual assault and facilitating a platform for the trending #MeToo movement.

The #MeToo movement started in 2017 to demonstrate how sexual assault and harassment is prevalent within the workplace. This movement has also opened up a dialogue for awareness of sexual assault and harassment in various places such as the workplace, college campuses, public events and other public and private areas. A short clip of the Larry Nassar abuse victims speaking out set the tone and sparked a conversation. Some of the prompts used for discussion were: “How has the dialogue surrounding sexual assault changed due to media influence?”; “Why was speaking out about sexual assault considered a taboo? What do you think made it that way?”; “How could we possibly open up this dialogue on sexual assault to younger children or the generations of people younger than us?”; “What kind of advice would be useful for parents navigating these untested waters?”; “What is the importance of having and keeping a narrative? Do you think that people struggle with figuring out what their narrative is and the value it has?”

The participants were able to discuss these questions and various other issues with their own experiences and views on the discussion at hand. The hope for these talks is to spread awareness and eventually get rid of sexual assault on campus, which is a common occurrence on most college campuses across America.