Ethan Hawker and Nick's response to Lady Gaga video and Hunting Ground

Lady Gaga's video was empowering and didn't hold anything back. Also the video was exposing and meaningful. The overall message of the song was nobody knows how sexual assault feels, unless they are to experience it themselves. Ending sexual assault on college campuses starts with the awareness and the acknowledgment of it. As seen in the Hunting Grounds documentary, the acknowledgement of campus rape by school officials is poor and there are minimal charges even if the accused rapist is prosecuted. In Lady Gaga's video specifically, the victims are seen with writing on their bodies. Things like, "I am worthless," many people may be asking why, but that is the whole point of the video, that you won't know until it happens to you. The Hunting Ground connects directly with her song because these incoming freshman were overjoyed about college, but the experience became a nightmare when they became the victims of sexual assault. They had nobody to turn to because even the school administrators didn't back them, and telling their parents was something they couldn't even imagine doing at first. Overall, Lady Gaga's music video should be wider spread for the awareness of sexual assault.

Natalie Lovinger Hunting Grounds Response

1. Since many women don't fell comfortable reporting their rape, they go unreported and victims feel alone. Without hearing other people's stories, no one knows that there are others in the same position. If there are spaces created so that survivors can talk about their experience the survivor will be able to see how many people are going through the same thing and that there is support for them. An important aspect to creating the space is that it is a safe space. If survivors are told their stories are false, or that no one wants to hear, they will not feel safe and no one will want to share their stories.

2. a. Surv Justice was founded by Laura Dunn after she was sexually assaulted in 2004 at University of Wisconsin in Madison.
b. Surv Justice aims to help sexual assault survivors by aiding them in the legal aspects of justice as well as supporting those who want to make legal change.
c. Most of the funding comes from donations.
d. Most of the media mentions of Surv Justice are in relation to their work on rape cases.

Elliot Mollie Hunting Ground Response

1. In order to raise awareness about sexual assault on college campuses there needs to be a definite change in the rhetoric and tone towards sexual assault survivors, perpetrators, and the claims of sexual assault in general. The persistent ignorance and rape culture in our society is the main reason why sexual assault continues to be a pervasive threat on our college campuses. I believe that the stories of trauma need to be shared more often, if only to combat the belief by many that sexual assault is “not that bad”. This victim-blaming, uncaring, and unwilling rhetoric surrounding rape and sexual assault is the reason why even after having evidence and proof of rapes many authority figures in our country overlook sexual assault claims. The only real way to change this mindset is to show people images and stories like Hunting Ground and Til it Happens to You. We have gotten past the need for numbers and facts, and into the time for personal feelings and emotion. After watching these films I was much more moved to take action to combat sexual assault than I was after Googling how many rapists go free.

2. Our activism organization was the EROC (End Rape On Campus). The two founders of this organization are Annie E. Clark, who is the executive director and a published author, and Sofie Karasek, who is their Director of Education and a subject of The Hunting Ground. This organization’s key objectives are to raise awareness about campus rapes and to directly support victims and their families. They also want to push campus, state, and federal policy reforms that make sure that no rapist goes without punishment. Through this, they hope to put an end to the normalized campus rapes going on in many colleges all throughout the country. This organization is currently internet exclusive. They have no paid staff and receive no substantial funding from any government organization. Furthermore, it is important that we aid not only the EROC, but all organizations that seek to expose the frequent but ignored rapes going on on college campuses. This organization has also been praised on the news, not only because they have done good things, but also because this is a relatively isolated organization. It isn’t too well-known, nor is it adequately funded, but the articles that are written about it from major news outlets have nothing but good things to say.

Zoe Lydon- Presidential debate

One area of strength for Hillary Clinton during this debate was her ability to state facts and statistics on the spot, she clearly had researched for this debate and came prepared. Another area of strength for Hillary was that fact that when given a problem or prompt, she not only would go in detail about why something needs to change, but what specifically she is going to do to change it. A weakness of Hillary would be her attacks against Trump, they were not very strong. Another weakness of Hillary would be straying off topic from what Lester Holt had asked. A weakness of Trump would his immaturity throughout the debate, he constantly was interrupting and making offensive claims against Hillary. Another weakness for Trump was the fact that he lied multiple times and denied claims he has made in the past. Some strengths for Donald Trump during this debate would be his confidence and his ability to get the last word in. Overall I believe Hillary Clinton won the debate.

Debate Responce-Lauren Kelleher

Hilary Clinton

Pros

1. Donald Trump turned the conversation away from race, Secretary Clinton turned it right back by bringing up the birther movement and Trumps roll in it, making it clear that it is a racial issue.

2. When Trump attacked Hilary Clinton on personal issues she decided to neglect responding to those and focus on the issues in America. To me this is a pro even though some might say that it makes her look like she is avoiding the topics, I believe that it makes it look like she is taking the high road and focusing on the issues that matter to the voters, this is also Donald Trumps alkalis heal.

Cons

1. Even though she is not doing it herself Donald talking over and interrupting her a total of 51 times makes Hilary look week, Trump interrupting makes all candidates he debated look week however when the candidate is a women we will see her as weaker then most. If Secretary Clinton chose to raise her voice and take control she would be seen as an “emotional women”.

2. Clinton will forever be haunted by the email scandal, however I believe that owning up to her mistake and showing remorse for it might come off to others who appose her as an addition of guilt.

Donald Trump

Pros

1. Donald Trump was asked about his tax returns and even though the FTC has claimed that he is free to relese them and he was told this by Lester Holt he still managed to win the question by deflecting the question back the Hilary Clintons’ emails, saying as he always does “I will release my taxes when she releses her emails”.

2. Donald Trump made some pretty good one liners that would be great soundbites to put into comercials that make him seem smart and well spoken . One being “we can not be the policeman for the world.” And another “Hilary Clinton has experience but it is bad experience.”

Cons

1. Interrupting the moderator and his opponent on almost every question in my eyes makes Donald Trump seem rude and arrogant, however for most Trump supporters they see this as a powerful man standing up for himself. For swing voters I think how they perceive this comes down to the individual.

2. The whole “I was apposed to the war someone call Sean” thing made Donald look like a four year old throwing a tantrum.

Emma Ringstad

Hillary Clinton

Strength: Focuses on helping the middle class and making the wealthy pay more. Provides good statistics to back her points. Very good at pointing out the flaws in her opponent, like his focus on only making money, and disbelief in climate change. Points out Trump’s flaws in his business which is considered his greatest strength. Such as his 6 files for bankruptcies as well as his refusals to rent property to black people.

Weakness: Attached to her husband's mistakes, as well as Obama’s policies that have failed. She looks untrustworthy because she hid such a significant amount emails from the people and won’t release them.

Trump

Strength: Pointing out the flaws in the way other countries are affecting us rather than the way the country is affecting itself. Speaks with confidence and conviction that makes you think he is telling the truth. Turns Hillary’s arguments on herself making her look bad, such as the argument “why hasn’t Hillary done anything about _____ while she was in political power.”

Weakness: Is part of some of the wealthiest in America and appears to not care about or understand the middle class which is a large number of Americans. Only points out the problems and doesn’t focus on the solution. Interrupts Hillary and Lester, causing him to look disrespectful. Supports trickle down economics which has historically failed to help the middle class many times.

I think that Hillary Clinton won this debate because she appeals most to the middle class. She focuses more on how to economically relieve the middle class in contrast to Trump who appears to support the upper class. Since the middle class makes up 51% of America, and since only 0.01% of Americans make an annual 9.5 million, Hillary gains way more votes than Trump on her economic policy. I think that Hillary will also win more black votes because in the debate it is clearly pointed out Trump has committed discriminatory acts in business transactions. As well as his idea for unconstitutionally ruled stop and frisk laws. Lastly I think that Hillary will win more votes because she brings up more numbers to support her arguments which makes her more believable. 

The Hunting Grounds-Bronson Engel

This song and documentary has helped me and my fellow peers about the seriousness of rape and not only the action itself but how the authorities and the people in charge decide to handle it. All of those women in the documentary were so brave to come forth in front of the world and share their stories hoping that it will influence and inspire those who have been raped to tell someone and stand up for themselves. I feel like in order to get people to believe that this is a big issue happening in many institutions is to show them this documentary and let them listen to the song so that they can sympathize with the people that are struggling with this. The goal is not only to raise the awareness but it's to warn these young girls and boys going to college for the first year that aren't educated on how common sexual assault is and how easy it is for it to occur to you. The organization SurvJustice was founded by Laura Dunn from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as she was graduating from law school. This organization helps survivors of sexual assault find justice by providing legal assistance, policy advocacy, and institutional training. They receive their funding by donations through their website. They are portrayed negatively in the news because they help students file reports on colleges that don't take their sexual assault seriously.