As #BelieveSurvivors tops the Twitter trending list, and survivors share their stories of solidarity all over the Internet, the Yale University community is doing its own forms of resistance. Over 900 women from the Yale community have signed an open letter in support of fellow alum Deborah Ramirez, the second woman to come out publicly about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The women don’t just show their support for survivors Ramirez and Dr. Christine Ford; they also condemn an environment at Yale that has allowed such widespread abuse.
“We are coming forward as women of Yale because we have a shared experience of the environment that shaped not only Judge Kavanaugh’s life and career, but our own,” the letter states. “We are committed to supporting all women who have faced sexual assault, not only at Yale, but across the country.”
Ramirez, who was a classmate of Kavanaugh, says that during a freshman year party he thrust his penis in her face without permission. She was hesitant to come forward, but other Yale alumni had remembered the incident, too, and discussed it before Dr. Ford came forward..
As potentially more victims of Kavanaugh come forward, it’s hard to not consider how our institutions create men who don’t respect women and know they can harm them with impunity. I have met and worked with survivors who personally know how far Yale will go to avoid holding sexual assailants accountable. Now I wonder if it’s because they are worried they might upset and expel a future Supreme Court nominee.
Students on Yale’s campus seem to be fed up as well. Last week activists called Yale Law School a “model of complicity” that only cares about its “proximity to power and prestige.” Today, some classes have been cancelled due to widespread protests.
