Ep. 58 Processing Cornell: A Space to Share, Listen and Find Community
If you are still processing what happened at Cornell and are experiencing strong emotions, please join us for a special episode of Shining Light on Shadows.
Jane Doe’s account of being drugged and raped at Cornell two years ago, and what happened after she reported it, has raised difficult questions about how survivors are treated, whether institutions protect them and what accountability should look like. It has also stirred strong reactions among survivors, families, educators and others following the story.
For Ep. 58 of “Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health,” Dawn Neuburg and I want to create space for people to process those reactions, find community and talk about what comes next: for survivors, for the people who support them and for the institutions and communities around them.
Join us Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT / 4 p.m. PT for “Processing Cornell: A Space to Share, Listen and Find Community.”
Our previously scheduled episode on ADHD with Kirby Hansen-McNulty has been rescheduled to Oct. 22.
Watch the live show or recording on this website or watch and comment on social media: Facebook* | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram**
*Facebook will delete the video in 30 days. **We won't know the exact urls for Twitter and Instagram until we go live.
For now, these links go to Neil's Twitter and Instagram.
Pradyna Haldipur
Pradnya Haldipur, a survivor, will share how she has been working through what the Cornell story has brought up for her and the conversations she knows she will need to have with her young son and daughter.
As a fundraising professional, she is also particularly interested in how donors are responding and what role they can play when institutions face questions like these.
Professor Walter Greason
Walter Greason (The Gray Sage) is a professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He’ll offer his perspective on how universities can respond and what institutional accountability can look like.
He is also asking broader questions about the environments we create in our local communities and high schools and how those environments may contribute to the problem.
Thoughts from a Cornell Professor
I will also share thoughts from a friend of mine who is a professor at Cornell and attended the student-led rally earlier this week. Many of her students came to Cornell believing it would be a place where they could thrive. They are now struggling with what they are learning about rape on college campuses and Cornell’s response. She said the rally gave her hope because of the strong support for survivors and the sense of community she saw there. Cornell faculty are also preparing to vote on a resolution of no confidence in the university’s administrators.
Dawn and I are both survivors. We’ve shared our stories, and referenced them, several times on this show.
Dawn Neuburg, "Enough Already: Why Survivors Shouldn't Have to Hide"
In a new blog post, “Enough Already: Why Survivors Shouldn’t Have to Hide,” Dawn writes about why survivors may normalize, minimize or stay silent about what happened, particularly when speaking up can mean being disbelieved, blamed or shamed. She also challenges the expectation that women should be responsible for protecting themselves from sexual violence. The questions of why survivors minimize what happened, compare their trauma to someone else’s, struggle to name it or decide it is safer not to speak, are ones we’ve returned to often.
She also asks what happens when a story like Cornell brings those memories and emotions back for people who may not have a safe community where they can talk about them. That is one reason this conversation belongs on Shining Light on Shadows.
Continuing the Conversation from The Sunday #NYTReadalong
On Sunday, Cornell came up on another show I co-host, “The Sunday #NYTReadalong.” I was frankly overwhelmed by the number of people who shared in the comments that they were survivors, too. That response reinforced something I was already feeling: people need room to talk about what this story has brought up for them.
There is so much that still needs to be said about this subject. We hope Thursday’s show will help.
Programming Notes
Ep. 57, “Managing the Transition from High School to College”
Paige Goble returned to Shining Light on Shadows a year after joining us as a high school senior.
Now a freshman at William & Mary, she joined me and Dawn Neuburg to talk about her senior year, leaving home and how she prepared for one of the biggest transitions of her life. Dawn and I also shared our own college experiences during the show. It wasn’t pretty for either of us.
The three of us also reflected on Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
Coming Up: Episode 59, “Understanding and Living with ADHD: Awareness Before Crisis”
October is ADHD Awareness Month. On Thursday, Oct. 22, Kirby Hansen-McNulty, CEO and founder of Calibrate ADHD, will join Dawn Neuburg and me to explore rejection sensitivity, burnout, relationships and understanding what you need before it becomes a crisis.
I was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago. I will also share how I use ChatGPT to help keep my ADHD at bay and stay on top of my work.
We’ll share links for the show closer to the episode.
Background
Dawn and I launched this twice-a-month show to help reduce the stigma associated with mental health. Thank you for being part of our community.
We are proud to be in Year 3 of the show. If you are interested in being a guest on the show or know someone who might be interested, please let us know. We’re looking for people who would be willing to share their story, advocates and people who work in the field of mental health.
We hope you can watch the show and share your own thoughts in the comments.
Resources / Relevant Links
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline
800-950-6264 Or text "HelpLine" to 6264; nami.org
Mental Health America Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org; mhanational.org Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) National Sexual Assault Hotline 800-656-HOPE (4673); rainn.org
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