This semester I served as the intern for SUNY Cortland’s Title IX office. Title IX offices deal with ensuring equity and equal opportunity for all students, and that there is no bias or disadvantage in them gaining their degree while attending college. One facet of this is dealing with sexual harassment and domestic violence issues as they arise on campus. The Title IX office therefore helps plan programs and educate the campus community on rates of sexual and relationship violence, as well as create support networks for survivors, and help educate people to recognize signs that may indicate any of these violent behaviors or tendencies. This is where my internship was focused, in aiding in the education of our campus and facilitating our programming.
While most internships in college are done either for credit or profit my internship was solely voluntary. This was important to me because as a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault myself, and having many close connections to other survivors I felt that it was my responsibility to change the culture on campus during my time here because I felt it was the right thing to do. There were a few major events and projects that I undertook for the internship; creating a presentation detailing the resources and services available through Title IX as well as facts about acts of sexual violence, helping to plan and work our annual Yards for Yeardley event, plan and facilitate events during our It’s On Us and S.A.F.E.R. weeks of action, and lastly speak at our bi-annual Take Back The Night March. When it comes to the topic of sexual assault men frequently take a back seat in speaking out against it, or being active bystanders. However, as not just a man, but a queer man of color I felt deeply called to speak out and be a voice and face for others to relate to and know that they had support and an ally to turn to if they needed. Sexual and domestic violence is something that can affect anyone at anytime, yet it can be extremely isolating and lonely trying to cope with it. Openly addressing these issues and returning voices and power to those who have lost it is an ongoing social movement and what I set out to address during my internship this semester. I’ve attached links to my presentation I created, an article written about my take back the night speech. In the photo section of the blog you can find several photos taken throughout the semester sharing my involvement in the different programs and activities I helped to create and facilitate. I hope that if you’re a member of the Cortland community this helps you understand that there are resources available for you or loved ones if needed, and that there are people in Cortland ready to speak up about sexually violent acts and have them stop once and for all. -Cyrenius Nelson prezi.com/view/HjV4joJRLcCPbUzsmcCK/ cortlandstandard.net/2019/04/18/continue-to-survive-together/ |