Next month Gonzaga University will welcome activist Tarana Burke, who founded the Me Too Movement years before the hashtag gained popularity, and journalist Ronan Farrow, who broke the Harvey Weinstein story in the New Yorker, which sparked a wildfire of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse committed by men in positions of power in a variety of industries.
Burke and Farrow will share their perspectives on the Me Too Movement and their own work on Friday, April 20 at 7 p.m. in the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Tarana Burke is a social justice activist from New York. She is the founder and director of Just Be Inc., a youth organization dedicated to supporting young women of color, and the senior director of Girls for Gender Equity, a Brooklyn-based organization that promotes the well-being of girls and women. Burke started the Me Too Movement in 2006 as a way to empower young women of color who have endured sexual abuse or assault through empathy and building community. According to Burke, the idea for the movement comes from “the deepest, darkest place in my soul.” Time magazine recognized Burke as one of the “Silence Breakers,” the Person of the Year for 2017.
Ronan Farrow is an investigative journalist who wrote a series of articles in The New Yorker late in 2017 that brought to light numerous allegations made against the film producer Harvey Weinstein. Beyond that, his writings have been published in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, he makes documentaries for HBO, he was an anchor and reporter for NBC News, and he served as a State Department diplomat during the Obama administration. Farrow is the author of one book, “War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of the American Influence,” and is working on another. Farrow is a skilled public orator and has been praised by NPR for his speeches.
In a press release, Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh expressed his “hope is that this event provides an opportunity to engage with leaders at the forefront of this social justice movement, to better understand the epidemic of systematic sexual harassment and abuse, and to more deeply appreciate the profound cultural change the #MeToo movement represents.”
All are welcome to attend this ticketed Gonzaga Presidential Speaker Series event. Tickets will be available for purchase after March 15 at TicketsWest and the McCarthey Athletics Center.
