The U.S. and UF stopped when Christine Blasey Ford took a stand.
UF students and faculty sat in silence Thursday morning as they watched history unfold during the hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh with Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s when they were in high school. Kavanaugh testified after Ford and denied the accusations.
Regardless of opinion, many in the university community had a stance on the events in the historic hearing.
Rosana Resende’s initial reaction was to believe Ford as she watched the hearing on her tablet as her students took an exam.
Ford’s experience is one that females are all too familiar with, said Resende, a UF lecturer and coordinator for the Center for Latin American Studies.
“I believe the women who accused Bill Cosby,” she said. “I believe the women who accused Donald Trump. My default is to believe, and my default is not to deny.”
Students and faculty have discussed the hearings, Resende said. It’s a serious conversation the public needs to focus on.
“What I like to tell my students all the time is really the power is up to you to create the conversations on campus,” she said. “You guys have the ability to demand that those conversations are had.”
The hearing scared Maya Levkovitz, an 18-year-old UF linguistics freshman.
“It sends the message to women everywhere that what happens to them isn’t worthy of being considered in one of the most important appointments this country has,” Levkovitz said. “It scares me that they’re not even willing to consider that, up until it became politically advantageous, the right wasn’t willing to consider the possibility that it was worth investigating what happened to Dr. Ford, and it terrifies me that that’s not the priority of this country anymore.”
Kavanaugh and Ford’s testimonies aren’t black and white for Alyssa Morford.
The 18-year-old UF political science freshman said the hardest part of the hearing is figuring out who is telling the truth.
“He does have what he needs to have to be a Supreme Court justice in sense of career standing, and it kind of sucks that he has to go through this, especially if the allegations are false against him,” Morford said.
Morford said she believes it’s vital for people to do research on political topics rather than taking a side.
“There’s definitely an overall negative reaction to the hearing as a whole, no matter which direction you’re looking at it from,” Morford said.
Jadaya Hargraves was sitting in the UF Financial Affairs office when she began to cry.
Hargraves, an 18-year-old UF political science freshman, broke down when she saw Ford’s testimony.
“I have a lot of people in my life who have gone through situations like that,” Hargraves said. “Seeing how it impacts their social relationships and their self worth and the ways that they view themselves, it really is an important thing that should be discussed.”
Offensive remarks and jokes about Ford’s testimony were posted online, Hargraves said.
“The way that it’s being talked about in the media, I just feel is completely inappropriate and dismissive of people who have gone through those kinds of situations,” Hargraves said.
Kavanaugh should be held to a high standard because he’s being considered for a lifetime appointment with lasting consequences, Daniel Ospina said.
“No sane person would go through all the media attention and public outlash without being certain of the validity of their claims,” Ospina, a UF second-year computer science and nuclear engineering master’s student said.
A person nominated for such a seat should exemplify the qualities of the Supreme Court, such as integrity, impartiality and sound judgment, Ospina said.
“Judge Kavanaugh has failed to exemplify these qualities during the hearing,” Ospina said.
Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 in Washington. (Win McNamee/Pool Image via AP)
