Graduation is normally a time for celebration and congratulations at the prestigious Stanford University. This year was a bit different. After former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner was sentenced to just six months in county prison for raping an unconscious woman—a crime that has a maximum sentence of 14 years—the sexual assault case and the university gained national attention.
The Brock Turner case was an unavoidable elephant in the room, a presence that seeped deeply into the less-than-celebratory atmosphere of the graduation proceedings on Sunday. In the face of blatant injustice, several students decided to protest during this year’s commencement, BuzzFeed News reports.
“1/3” signs lined the crowd, calling attention to a statistic that one in three female and gender-nonconforming students at Stanford University will be sexually assaulted by their senior year.
“It doesn’t matter what she was drinking,” and “Justice for Survivors, Not Leniency for Rapists,” branded multiple posters held by protesters during Stanford’s annual “Wacky Walk,” according to BuzzFeed. Graduating senior Paul Harrison held another sign, declaring “RAPE is RAPE.”
“It’s very important to amplify the voice of survivors,” said Brianne Huntsman, one of the student protesters, to Fox News.
#20MinutesOfAdvocacy pic.twitter.com/Rl2BeGS38G
— Brianne Huntsman (@ceohunty) June 12, 2016
A women’s rights group called UltraViolet took out a number of ads at the graduation through pervasive platforms where they could not be ignored. One of these was a banner attached to a plane flying overhead, reading “PROTECT SURVIVORS NOT RAPISTS #PERSKYMUSTGO.” The same line appeared on a full-page ad in the commencement edition of the Stanford Daily, which were made widely available to every attendee.
Plane w/ banner over Stanford Univ. commencement: protect survivors not rapists,#perskeymustgo pic.twitter.com/h4Qyq65avy
— Cbarnard (@CornellBarnard) June 12, 2016
full-page ad in the Stanford Daily: “Protect Survivors Not Rapists” pic.twitter.com/qEkf9yxwed
— Ellen Cushing (@elcush) June 10, 2016
The popular rallying call #PerskyMustGo refers to Judge Aaron Persky, who decided on Brock Turner’s way-too-lenient prison term. Despite a jury convicting Turner (and prosecutors recommending a sentence of six years), Persky thought that any more than six months in jail would have a “severe impact” upon the student.
Public opinion has since called for the removal of Judge Persky—especially after Turner decided to appeal his conviction. Over a million people signed a petition on Change.Org to remove the judge from his position of power.
Even members of Congress, such as Rep. Ted Poe (R) of Texas and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) of California have joined the movement to impeach Persky after the “outrageous” and short sentence for Turner.
Some faculty at Stanford claimed that the silent protests at graduation were “unusual.” Law professor Michelle Dauber, a family friend of the victim and a leader of a remove Persky campaign, told BuzzFeed, “Students at Stanford are very conservative—it is not a school known for activism. So for students to launch a campaign like this…I read this as a sign of the total lack of confidence or trust in the administration. I would say trust is at an all-time low.”
According to the San Francisco Gate, filmmaker and commencement speaker Ken Burns also made a reference to the Brock Turner case, offering some advice to the students: “If someone tells you they have been sexually assaulted, take it f***ing seriously and listen to them.”
When injustice like this sweeps through a school, it’s in the students’ hands to show that they will not stand for it. “People think protesting is ungrateful. I think it’s the opposite. It’s how we show we care,” said senior Violet Trachtenberg to BuzzFeed. “I consider this my final act of love for Stanford.”
Let’s hope that more students exercise their constitutional right to protest and enable real change to happen, especially for victims of sexual assault.