Expressing oneself is vital for change

Editor’s Note: Open Forum is available to anyone on campus. E-mail contributions to the editor [email protected].

Sometimes all a person needs to do is articulate his or her concerns and someone will come to the rescue.

Last semester, the Union ran an article reporting sexual harassment occurring on campus. In an effort to encourage victims of harassment to report their aggressors, I shared an experience in which a professor here made an inappropriate comment regarding a T-shirt I was wearing.

After the article was published, I learned of female students who had read the article and agreed that this particular professor was notorious for making inappropriate comments.

But students were not the only ones who read the article. During the summer, I received a phone call from the dean of the department of the imprudent professor.

The team wanted to express concern and to give me the opportunity to formally file for harassment against the professor, assuring me that the incident would not go unnoticed.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that sharing my experience allowed for others to take notice and possibly to prevent this professor from making future students feel uncomfortable.

The college’s effort to correct what occurred to me more than four semesters ago has assured me that, at least when it comes to the Office of Student and Staff Diversity, students’ welfare is a priority.

Harassment of any type by anyone should not be tolerated.

Any person on campus interested in filing a harassment complaint may contact Leo Middleton at (310) 660-3813. Remember, not reporting these situations may allow aggressors to continue their hostile behavior.

-Noraly Hernandez, EC graduate