The Oracle TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2014 I VOL. 52 NO. 33
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
‘The power of personal storytelling’ USF added to growing list Award-winning of Title IX investigations screenwriter empowers students n
By Alex Rosenthal
to make change.
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By Brandon Shaik A S S T .
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Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black took the stage Monday night with one message: “Agitate when necessary, cause trouble, never follow a step behind anyone … never ever follow the steps of someone who leads with fear as you pursue your passion.” Black, whose resume includes the film “J. Edgar” and the HBO series “Big Love,” earned a Screenwriters Guild Award and an Academy Award for his 2008 film “Milk.” As part of the Center for Student Involvement’s University Lecture Series, Black was paid $19,500 to speak to the crowd of 100 students about the value of diversity and how it has played a role in his awardwinning career. Black grew up as a gay Mormon in Texas, living in constant fear of being found out. After moving to California as a teenager with his mother, Black was introduced to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the state of California, through a speech played on a boombox in his drama teacher’s classroom, which he said saved his life. While in college at UCLA film school, he expanded his friend group to include gays and lesbians, many of whom had been exiled from their families. While many of his friends knew of his sexuality, he described the true coming out moment as telling the people he was most afraid of losing.
Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black spoke about determination and the value of individuality to students Monday evening in the Marshall Center Ballroom. ORACLE PHOTO / ADAM MATHIEU
“A lot of people are coming out all the time, coming out with your ethnicity, with who you pray to, there’s a lot of people coming out and you might have to come out your whole life if you’re LGBT,” Black said. His mother initially had worries, but one night, over dinner with friends, his mother heard the stories of his gay and lesbian friends who faced rejection from their families. “She heard the stories of actual gay and lesbian people,” he said. “Not politics, not the law, not the science … it took an actual story from the heart, and in one night it dispelled all the myths and all the lies and all the stereotypes from the church, from the military and growing up in the South. And that is the power of personal storytelling.” Black used that power and mixed it with troublemaking, taking a note from Milk to create the film that brought the politician’s name back into the discussion. “I got a credit card, and I started traveling to meet with real people. I started with Cleve Jones, who was Harvey Milk’s protege, and
he introduced me to more people and I was spending more money on dinners and gasoline. After over a year, I finally had enough people where I felt like I had a story and I went back to the producers.” Following his meeting with producers, all of the research he had been done was shot down. He left feeling disappointed, but not defeated. “I called Cleve Jones, who had been my ally this whole time and I said ‘Cleve, this is what happened, but f--them, I’m going to do it, I’ll do it myself.’” Entirely in secret, Black worked to write the script and cast the movie with award-winning actors such as Sean Penn, James Franco and Emile Hirsch, a move that made the film impossible for producers to reject. The film went on to be a great success, earning Black the Academy Award in 2009. “Very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally across this great nation of ours,” he said in his winning speech. That promise made him a lot of enemies in the LGBT movement and placed him
n See ULS on PAGE 2
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C H I E F
The issue of sexual assaults on college campuses has shown up in headlines across the country for most of this year, with 85 institutions currently awaiting federal investigations. Last month, USF was added to the list of universities pending investigation of alleged Title IX violations, a list that has grown by 50 percent since the Department of Education began disclosing the specific cases in May, according to the Washington Post. On Sept. 3, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights started a Title IX sexual violence investigation involving USF. Title IX was passed in 1972 to require schools that receive federal funding to provide equal opportunity and prevent sexual harassment and sexual violence. “In the matter resulting in this complaint, the university promptly began an investigation upon receiving notice of the incident,” said USF Media and Public Affairs Coordinator Adam Freeman in an emailed statement to The Oracle. “The alleged victim received information about rights under Title IX, the investigative process and available resources on and off campus. Those resources include academic assistance, victim advocacy and counseling services. The two individuals involved were acquainted with each other and the university determined the safety of students and the USF community has not been compromised at any time.” USF’s Title IX Coordinator and Chief Diversity Officer Jose Hernandez deferred comments to Freeman. While Freeman said the matter is under investigation and no further information could be provided, including what incident sparked the complaint that led to the investigation, University Police (UP) Assistant Chief Chris Daniel said only one case of sexual assault has been reported to his office
since July 31. Daniel said he was unaware of the Title IX investigation and did not know if that sexual assault case was related, but did say it was reported to his office Sept. 17. The incident allegedly occurred in Eta Hall on Sept. 1 and involved two acquainted students: a female victim and a male suspect. Daniel said a friend of the victim who heard about the incident but was not involved reported the case to UP. According to UP’s annual security report, six rapes and one incident of fondling were reported in 2013, seven cases of rape were reported in 2012 and one was reported in 2011. Nine forcible sex offenses were reported in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education’s website. “USF strives to be a campus that leads the way in promoting a culture where sexual violence is a rare occurrence and simply not tolerated,” Freeman wrote to The Oracle. “We also are working to create an atmosphere where students are empowered to affect change on this crucial societal problem. The university will remain proactive in ensuring our students have access to the best information, prevention programs and services. We will also continue to review our existing programs and pursue new initiatives consistent with best practices for Title IX compliance.” At the beginning of the year, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to create the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in five women and one in 71 men have reported experiencing rape at some time in their lives, with a third of women estimated to have been first raped between the ages of 18 and 24. For the full list of universities under investigation for Title IX violations, visit usforacle.com.