Tommy Reid, '15, president of Intra-Fraternity Council (IFC); video interview

Niki Afsar and Tierney Vial

Take Back the Archive

Academic year 2014-2015

Video, 13:09 minutes

Tommy Reid, UVA ’15
President, Intra-Fraternity Council (IFC)

0:08 How has sexual assault advocacy changed during your time at UVa?
“The diversity and the breadth of organizations that are tackling sexual assault.” No longer just One Less, One in Four, SVPC (Sexual Assault Prevention Coalition), but also Greek groups and some athletic teams.

1:58 How have responses to sexual assault changed within the UVa community?
“I’ve seen gender issues start to become more of a part of people’s daily lexicon.”
“Students realizing that some questions can’t be solved at an institutional level. Policies can only go so far. The elimination of sexual assault is a cultural issue.”

4:05 What advice do you have for students who want to get involved in sexual assault advocacy?
“Build relationships with students in other groups.”

6:29 What is a high priority area for improvement in UVa’s response to sexual assault?
Making the study of gender “a priority of our academic time here at UVa” by integrating women’s history and gender issues into the curriculum of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“So much of our life is controlled by the male/female divide” (first-year dorms, the Greek system, sports teams), “yet we don’t spend a ton of time learning about that” in the classroom.

8:54 Can you talk about why advocacy is relevant to the student body as a whole?
“It’s corrosive to people’s sense of identity to have something shatter the walls of the community” like the Rolling Stone article did. “So the elimination of sexual assault, and education about sexual violence is necessary for the public good.”

11:18 Can you talk about student reactions to the events of the 2014-2015 school year?
“It’s important to look at the Rolling Stone article and the aftermath not as a single unit.”
“The article was false of discredited or whatever language you want to use. But when I look at the response of the university and the response of individuals in different communities to Rolling Stone, I see that as very, very true.”