A Message to Michigan State, My Alma Mater:
For anyone associated with our university, in any capacity, it has been an exhausting several weeks. It's been a confusing several weeks; weeks characterized by trusts broken and bonds weakened. Above all, though, it's been a moving several weeks. A core-deep motivation for change and for difference has revealed itself. So this week, I address you directly - the people in and around my University. I address directly the people who are both tearing down, and beginning to build back the ruins shrouding East Lansing.
The message is simple: if nothing changes, nothing changes. I ask you all the question - how will you change?
To MSU Leadership - how will you change? Will you continue to downplay and disregard the impact of sexual assault on not just ours, but all college campuses? Will you continue to let the focus of fundraising and institutional interest outweigh the importance and experience of your students? Will you simply say what is necessary in order for this disastrous coverage to stop? Will you assume that you alone know the best way forward, and pay little mind to those elsewhere?
Or will you follow through on the promises for change you have offered? Will you never stop until each effort toward safety and healing are made? Will you heed and address the words of your students and faculty? Will you be the leaders and representatives we expect you to be? Will you make Michigan State University - the place I love, the place that raised me - a shining example of equality and a beacon of hope for others to follow?
I hope you will, because if nothing changes, nothing changes.
To Media - how will you change? How will you handle differently a situation so dire and far-reaching? Will you continue your witch-hunt mentality? Will you drudge through the dirt as many names as you can, so long as you get reads and clicks? Will you put reader engagement before justice, and will you put sensational headlines before objectivity?
Or will you put the betterment of society at the forefront of your messages? In your rightful pursuit of the truth, will you relent a fraction of your criticism for credit where it is due? Will you explore leads and gather facts, knowing your subjects are also human beings? Will you be fair? Will you be just? Will you add hope and optimism to a cutthroat media world consumed with judgment and malevolence?
I hope you will, because if nothing changes, nothing changes.
To Michigan State Students and Alumni - how will you change? Will you ignore the calls of your classmates for help and support? Will you assume that others will put in the work? Will you stay hidden behind the scapegoat excuse of well, it doesn't apply to me, I didn't abuse anyone? Will you shrink? Will you cower? Will you forget?
Or will you take responsibility for your school and for your classmates? Will you stand up as a generation, as a force awakening, and demand a different world for your children? Will you work to find common ground with our administration, understanding that the solutions will not reveal themselves with one meeting or one new hire? Will you lay the foundation for all students after you, so they may never experience a day in their lives like you have? Will you spark the fire of transformation? Will you be the leaders of our generation?
I hope you will, because we - more so than anyone else in this world - if we don't change, nothing changes.
To Everyone - how will you change? I implore you: stand and fight for those who are not weak, but who have yet to discover the inner strength that the evil of this world has done its best to conceal. Let these past weeks of tribulation act not as a speed bump back to normalcy, but as a catalyst toward a new normal. We have stumbled, but we have not fallen. I believe in Michigan State. I believe in you, and I believe we can change.
I used to doubt our power. I used to doubt the impact we as individuals could actually make. I used to sit back and let others act because hey, it didn't really affect me. But no more. I've changed. I've changed because I've finally realized that if nothing changes, nothing changes.
