After Numerous Battles, Dr. Toro Deserves Respect

Christian Reyes, Contributor

I hate to remind you all how wild the last few weeks have been, but it’s important to reflect on the issues we’ve recently faced as a student community.

Last Thursday, several hateful flyers that portrayed Central Connecticut President Dr. Zulma Toro as having created “racial division” and “LGBT pandering” were found around campus. I was in the Student Government Association office when another senator received a photo of the flyer, after which a small group of us tried to look for more of them so we could take them down.

Interestingly enough, these flyers were put up only a week after #CCSUBLACKOUT, a student rally bringing attention to and fighting against hateful conduct on campus, which Dr. Toro has since shown support for.

It’s really perplexing to me that anyone can try to assassinate the character of someone who has consistently taken on some pretty heavy issues, including sexual assault and other misconduct on campus, and has gone above and beyond to keep everyone safe and informed. Dr. Toro really put her all into the Task Force on Sexual Misconduct, Bullying and Campus Climate and I simply cannot find the “fake outrage” in that. Not only has Dr. Toro done her best in being transparent with students about what has happened on campus, but she has also found ways to educate us about topics that can be difficult to get through to students.

Earlier this year, every student was required to watch “Not Anymore,” a video that provided information about bystander intervention and domestic violence, among other issues, and complete a brief test at the end. We can probably all agree that it doesn’t sound like much fun, and it wasn’t, but it was informative and important in making sure our students are aware and safe. Not to mention, a majority of the students that I’ve talked to about it found it beneficial as well, which is monumental considering how short our attention spans are.

Not only are the flyers disrespectful to Dr. Toro, but they attempt to downplay very real problems that many of our students have to face on a regular basis.

Showing support to the LGBT community isn’t “LGBT pandering.” Applauding a rally that brought attention to racial discrimination doesn’t “create racial division” unless you have a problem with racial equality. The fact that whoever made the flyer wrote “‘rape culture’ propaganda” really shows that they have no idea how many students have to deal with the burden of being a survivor of sexual assault every single day, only to have someone attempt to discredit them.

I hope I speak for a vast majority of our student community when I say I support Dr. Toro and all the efforts she has made to make our campus better. I have seen what our students actually stand for.