KM 3A

The previous thursday, I attended the Baruch workshop “Dare to Engage.” The workshop’s topic focused upon the recent, and tragic death of Tyler Clementi. Tyler Clementi, we were informed, was a 18 year old student at Rutger’s University in New Jersey. His room mate secretly filmed Clementi engaged in a “sexual encounter”, and posted the video live on the internet. After hearing of this news, Clementi became extremely distraught, posting a goodbye message on Facebook before committing suicide. The workshop’s lecturers discussed how Clementi’s death impacted many, including his family and friends. The potential dangers of “cyber-bullying” via social networking websites were also discussed. The workshop then shifted to raising social awareness of homosexual and transgender communities, stressing the importance of accepting other’s differences.