The Office of Greek Life and Student Societies in the Division of Student Affairs launched a speaker series this fall aimed at creating educational opportunities and strengthening community.
A Feb. 13 talk by educator and author Jackson Katz at Collis Common Ground will be the next installment, as he keynotes an event titled "We Need to Talk About… Violence Against Women."
Co-sponsored by the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, the Student Wellness Center, and the Title IX Office, the program is required for student leaders of Greek organizations and open to all community members. Registration is open for dinner at 5:30 p.m, followed by the talk and Q&A from 6-7:30 p.m.
"Given Dartmouth's commitment to mental health and to having challenging conversations, my hope is to shine a light on important issues and have them addressed by experts in the field," Mishka Murad, associate director of GLASS, says of the broader goal of the speaker series.
A leader in domestic and sexual violence prevention, Katz co-founded Mentors in Violence Prevention and presented a TEDx Talk which has more than 5 million viewers. His work encourages individuals to take action to prevent gender-based violence in their peer groups, a message familiar to many Dartmouth undergraduate students.
Amanda Childress, director of the Sexual Violence Prevention Project and associate director of the Student Wellness Center, says, "At Dartmouth, all juniors and seniors have participated in the SVPP, which includes bystander intervention training as one of its core outcomes."
Specifically, students "learn to recognize potentially harmful situations, barriers that can impede intervention, and be introduced to the DBI method—Do something directly, bringing others in, or use an ingenious alternative to disrupt, distract, or de-escalate a situation."
Lyndsey Emmons, assistant director of OPAL, said, "OPAL's Women and Gender Student Advising partnered with GLASS on this event, in particular, as Jackson Katz works to highlight the role of men in preventing gender-based violence."
Dartmouth community members also have access to the Title IX Office, a key campus resource in fostering a community of respect and safety that provides support, guidance, and resources to prevent and respond to sexual assault, gender-based violence, and other forms of sexual misconduct. A step-by-step guide helps individuals in the Dartmouth community get help in an emergency.
The Katz talk follows the successful launch of the "We Need to Talk About…" series in October, when documentary filmmaker Byron Hurt discussed the harmful impact of hazing rituals and the urgent need to create cultural change. Drawing an audience of more than 120 people, including senior leaders, students, and staff, the event was co-sponsored by the Office of Residential Life and Dean of the College Office.
Eric Ramsey, interim dean of the College, is particularly proud of the co-curricular learning aspect of the series.
"In the Division of Student Affairs, we're committed to creating meaningful avenues for undergraduate students to learn and grow in and out of the classroom. These programs not only enrich the student experience but also strengthen our entire community. They serve as a way to connect individuals with resources that can offer guidance and support," Ramsey says.
"We invited Byron Hurt to talk about hazing in the fall when we know many students are joining organizations and teams," says Murad, noting the series' mission to reinforce education about discussing difficult social issues and to help students develop skills as positive peer role models.
"Now that we have new members who have shown a commitment to their organizations, we want them to learn about how these groups and the spaces they occupy can be safe and healthy…It is important to first acknowledge the issues we face, along with owning that we each have the responsibility to find solutions."
Andrew Maguire '26, interfraternity council chair for summer term 2024, says fostering such discussions in the student community is important. "As a leader in the Greek system at Dartmouth, I can say from my own experience how important programs like the GLASS Speaker Series can be. Since Greek life plays such a prominent role on campus, it can be difficult to start conversations about the drawbacks and pitfalls…and the Speaker Series goes such a long way in normalizing these challenging—but crucial—dialogues."