Mark Auslander the director of the MSU
Museum and on the faculty and
anthropology and history here and this
is my colleague Chang Anna Canfora
who's our director of development here
at the Museum we are part of a day a
sort of somber day of commemoration and
celebration honoring survivors of sexual
violence and their families everywhere
some of you just gathered to hear a
really beautiful carillon concert that
both had an original composition and a
number of popular songs honoring
survivors just magnificent I never
thought we'd get to hear Beyonce on the
carillon it's just wonderful
in a few hours we'll be opening in the
museum and the building behind us an
exhibition that many of the people here
have worked long and hard on this is an
exhibition finding our voice sisters
survivors speak that is collaboratively
co-created by sister survivors some of
whom you will hear and their allies and
members of the museum staff have been
working to create an exhibition with a
remarkable group of artists and others
that tells the story of an enormous of
the enormous crisis of sexual violence
we're also familiar with a crisis also
of faith betrayed of institutional
failure and our hopes for institutional
transformation and this moment here that
we're gathered together is really in
that spirit the planting of a tree an
American beech this is an idea we've
been exploring with the sister survivors
for some time and may be gigantic you
can just say a little bit about how this
exhibition project developed and why
trees are so important to it
while this this exhibition has really
been a labor of love when I first
started at the MSU Museum a year ago I
had no idea that I would be learning so
much about the reproductive cycle of
gypsy moths and so much about preserving
textiles and I knew that when I first
spoke to mark about looking for an
opportunity to do something that is
supportive of survivors at the msu
museum under his leadership is has
really stepped up and preserving we
started with preserving the ribbons that
were on all of the trees around campus
that were dedicated to individual
survivors but the process of preserving
those textiles those ribbons has really
led us to an amazing community
co-curated project that we are so
honored to be a part of to have really
earned the trust of our fellow curators
the survivors and allies and family
members and it's just really amazing to
be a part of this whole process and we
appreciate everyone who has supported us
through this this whole thing
so as we as we prepare for the
tree-planting we're really honored that
Emily Proctor from the Little Traverse
Bay Band of Odawa Indians a member of
the Tribal Council and some wonderful
young people who refers helped represent
the Native communities of Michigan have
traveled here today to be with us begin
with the land acknowledgment and then
we'll prepare the ground for placing
this beautiful tree in its new home
um (Ojibway introduction...) hello
everyone my name is Maya I am from the
Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawas and
also Oneida from the Oneida Nations of
the Thames in London Ontario. I'm
here to read the land acknowledgement
for everyone here we collectively
acknowledged that Michigan State
University occupies the ancestral
ancestral traditional and contemporary
lands of the initial a big three fires
Confederacy of Ojibwe Odawa
and Potawatomi peoples in particular the
University of resides on land seated in
the 1819 Treaty of
Saginaw we recognize support and
advocate for the sovereignty of
Michigan's twelve federally recognized
Native Nations for the historic
indigenous communities in Michigan for
indigenous individuals and community who
live here now and for those who were
forcibly removed from the homeland by
offering this land acknowledgement we
affirm indigenous sovereignty and we'll
work to hold Michigan State University
more accountable to the needs of
American natives and indigenous peoples
and so our next piece for honoring our
tree planting we'd like to invite (name) to engage in a opening prayer and
preparing the site so if you would be
able to follow us or you can sit here
and then you could put it in so
(Ojibwe words...)
(Ojibwe words...)
(Ojibwe words...)
(Ojibwe words...)
(Ojibwe words...)
me once if you'd like to
so my glance is placing the one of our
sacred medicine SEMA into the place the
home where our beautiful nitaac tree and
in a shabby moyen will be placed so
we'll give her a few moments
megwetch
(Ojibwe words...)
(Ojibwe words...)
(Ojibwe words...) Emily Proctor I am known in
my community as strawberry woman hi my
clan is Eagle clan I am from Cross Village place of the (Ojibwe words...)
and also Lansing other the south side of
Lansing and I currently live in Harbor
Springs with my partner Eric Hemingway
and I also work for Michigan State
University Extension so chi megwetch to
everyone being here working with Mark
and the survivors the family the
community this has been a beautiful
start to a great conversation and being
able to move forward to share our
support with folks here on campus but
also to share with you the importance of
trees in our community we have seen much
hurt over hundreds of years right and
we've seen colonization you've seen
assimilation policies and yet folks have
endured right our story oftentimes
you'll see is a story of tragedy of much
loss but we're still here right we are
resilient we have faith we have
community we love each other and we
support each other and I think that an
important piece that you're doing here
today with our beech tree is a great
representation of how we've continued to
support ourselves and that's through
ceremony through tradition trees are an
important piece to who we are as Anishnabe
in my teachings and each
Anishnabe you talk to will have a
variety of different teachings too but I
can tell you that trees last hundreds of
years as we were just talking about one
of the trees on the property here they
are strong they are resilient we care
for them they care for us when a person
is grieving we walk among trees we touch
our trees we spend time with them they
are living so as part of our medicine
part of our teachings adding more trees
to our community to the world around us
is ceremonial it's vital and it's
something we've done for thousands of
years
and they continue to care for us in the
same way right so when we talk about
grieving and loss again with many of our
women our children and our men LGBTQ
many folks across our communities
continue to experience sexual assault
sexual violence human trafficking right
in commute indigenous communities it is
one of the largest representation of
folks who are abducted assaulted and
murdered and still go missing there are
no minimal to no funds there are minimal
to no reporting mechanisms and
oftentimes you find reporting is
difficult - for a variety of reasons
through this partnership and this
ability to meet with you and work with a
museum and folks across campus is vital
so we can support each other and moving
forward in a positive and good way Chi
Megwetch for inviting us and for being
here this beautiful day on campus
thank you it means so much that you're
here and that this tree has such a fine
and blessed beginning and here in this
place of honor we are so grateful to our
friends and Landscape Services to see
trust and to everybody who's been
involved in helping with the selection
of this tree and at this point if it's
okay with you Brian if you could if you
don't mind speaking over the hydraulics
we're gonna allow the tree to begin to
move towards its home and we'll hear
some remarks from from trustee
Brian Mosallam who has been for many of
us a heroic voice at times defending
standing in solidarity with the sister
survivors during some very dark and
difficult and challenging moments so it
seems to us deeply appropriate that
we're gonna hear from Brian Mosallam
right now as this tree which honors
survivors which honors the sister
survivors survivors and their fan and
their families around the world and then
we will invite some of our youngest
sister survivors will place that we'll
come and help read the dedication and
place it and this tree we hope will
continue to grow and be a space of
learning and reflection and
contemplation and spiritual strength
really for everyone on a campus that has
not always done its best we know that
has betrayed the faith that was invested
in it by many many young people across a
30 year span this tree symbolizes our
commitment to trying to do better
Trustee Mosallam
thank you thank you for the kind in
trouble
nothing heroic about anything that I
have done what I have done in the past
is just basic common sense thank you for
having me here today
I am honored I thought that was
important that the board was represented
here and show and show of our solidarity
and the change in tone from the overall
collective this collective board of
trustees I think it's important that as
we plant this tree that that in honoring
our courageous survivors and their
courage it's it's not to turn the page
on this chapter as April passes and May
1 comes and and sexual assault awareness
month is gone it's not to say that we
shouldn't be talking about this anymore
so this is part of our past this is
something that I think is very important
that that we never forget as an
institution to all our courageous
survivors on campus and and the ones
that have been hurting in the past I
think you saw a president would pause
tone and his apology and sincerity I
think you saw that from the majority of
this board and we hope to move forward
with you I ask that all of our sisters
survivors all of the courageous
survivors continue to hold MSU
accountable to continue to push for
institutional reform to continue to push
for for all that is right and understand
this that you do have trustees that will
partner with you alongside of you as we
move this university forward and as we
help you heal and move in move it to
this next phase I want you to know that
we will never forget our past thank you
for having me and that we want to be
your partner in the future to move this
institution forward thank you
they're not playing Beyonce though Thank
You Trustee Mosallam. This whole the series
of projects that we celebrate today the
planting of the tree and the exhibition
you're about to see are made possible by
the generosity of an important partner
Grewal Law Firm of Okemos many of
you know and here to represent the firm
is Mick Grewal the firm that has
generously underwritten both the
dedication of the tree and the
exhibition opening this evening
courage strength hope
advocacy and justice this is what I see
when I see survivors I see survivors
here that we represent as these
survivors here that we don't represent
but when I look at all of you those are
the characteristics that I see I also
see family members here and to me they
are also survivors and this tree is
planted I want to thank each and every
survivor all all of you that are here
and all of you that are across the
United States for what you have done I
have found as I've spoken to many of you
these past years that each of you is
unique and has a strength that is
unyielding you have put yourself out
there in the universe to help others
your stories are now part of history and
change is happening slowly but it is
happening
I see courage and hope as I watch all of
hope through our communities hope for
change and hope for Humanity
this tree that is being planted today as
a living symbol of that hope that
strength that courage as his tree groves
and thrives and reaches for the Sun and
stars
that is exactly what each of you are
doing you are growing you are healing
you are giving a voice to each and every
survivor that is out there thank you for
everything that you have done and
continue to do I truly am humbled to be
in your presence and honored to be part
of this thank you well next hear from a
wonderful colleague who really was at
the very beginning of this project Frank
Telewski is the director of the WJ Beal
Botanical Gardens and Arboretum so he is
the Guardian the curator as it were all
these beautiful trees and when we were
sort of miraculously brought together a
little more than I guess a year ago when
Valerie about trying it was here today
and the other parents and allies that
became the organization later known as
Posse parents of student survivors
engaged there was a terrifying a dark
period really if you were you cast your
mind back to January 2018 when
everything seemed for many of us without
hope on this campus and then there was
this glimmer of light these amazing
220 odd ribbons began to appear across
the coniferous and deciduous trees at
the campus Frank and I would look at
them at times the time it then became
clear Frank who was obviously highly
attuned to everything that's going on
with the trees became aware that there
was pest infestation and that the these
beautiful teal ribbons that have been
placed lovingly at the trees were a
potential vector of contagion and risk
for the trees because of gypsy moth
caterpillars can nest within them and
the chrysalis cycle can can of course
intensify so as Chong Anna said none of
us knew we were going to learn so much
about about gypsy moths and Frank was
key to the really that the creation of a
beautiful compromise with Valerie and
the other parents and the sister
survivors the museum was able to play a
role in to figuring out that the parents
who had placed the allies who had placed
the ribbons would be allowed
respectively to untie them that these
would not these these symbols of penance
and prayer would not be summarily
destroyed our wonderful friends and
Landscape Services were very committed
to this understanding that the trees are
are in a sense temples of our hopes and
aspirations and it was only fitting that
the trees be honored as the survivors
were honored
so Frank it's been a long journey and
Frank is recovering from an illness but
he's with us
today and always seems to me whether or
not he's sitting or standing a towering
oak and it's wonderful to have you here
thank you Mark and everybody else so far
we've spoken this morning or afternoon
for your the words I just want to speak
a little bit for the for the trees if I
could some people have always kind of
called me the campus Lorax I guess I
bear that
medal with pride but I am so pleased
that we were able to plant this tree
today in honor of the sister survivors
and in recognition of our failings of
Michigan State I think that there's a
lot hopefully we do that will outshine
this in the future as well as we have in
the past one of the things that I'd like
to say is that we are gathered here at a
sacred space this is the sacred oval of
Michigan State University this is the
the land upon which the university was
first founded directly behind us of
course we stand in the shadow of
Beaumont tower which is the location of
the first campus building College Hall
it was built here and not too far to our
right
Saints Rests one of the original
dormitories that was built here back in
the middle of the nineteenth century
this part of a parcel of land which was
was the first parcel of land was
partially cleared forth the campus but
when we look at some of the very early
photographs we see many of the old trees
that were left they were rather young
strapping sample he set the time of
course we're talking over 150 years ago
but if we look amongst us we can see
many of the old oak trees here are the
the survivors of that original clearing
and have grown and prospered there's a
tree directly behind us very close to
where art recently planted which snapped
off in a windstorm about two years ago
and that tree really stands for for a
lot of what we look towards trees for in
terms of strength and and survivorship
and and resilience if you will as a
matter of fact Dean Chris Long from the
College of Arts and Letters nicknamed
the tree are resilient oak and I think
that's a very fitting term for it when
that tree came down I was very
interested to see that there was a metal
cap
top of it indicating that tree predated
the campus and using tree ring analysis
we were able to actually date that tree
to be over three hundred and fifty years
old so that tree definitely has seen a
lot of history both Michigan State
history and and prehistory of
pre-settlement and and people's native
peoples moving through this this parcel
of land and utilizing it as we know from
our earlier conversation here this
morning and so growing in the shadow of
that tree of course will be our new tree
our beech tree which we are so pleased
to have planted this is a long tradition
at Michigan State planting a tree to
commemorate to recognize to acknowledge
to celebrate to acknowledge aspects of
humanity of our individual lives our
collective lives starting in 1865 when
president Abbott first planted the first
commemorative tree here on campus a
white pine by Cowles House in
recognition of the birth of his daughter
who would have been got married under
that tree 21 years after that tree had
been planted that tree is still with us
today and and growing there too a grove
of oak trees red oaks that were planted
honor of all those MSU graduates who had
been lost in the Great War of the Great
War World War I to a variety of other
trees hundreds of trees planted here on
campus and recognition of retirements of
passings of celebrations of life for so
many this carries on a long tradition I
think not only here at Michigan State
but of humanity in general that we plant
trees in recognition of our lives as a
reflectance of who we are we look to
trees for strength we look to trees for
their resiliency we look for the trees
for the things that they give us and
that we can give them and so is a great
pleasure and honor to have this tree
added to our collection of this American
beech tree fagus grandifolia to continue
this long tradition of growing trees and
to keep this sacred space green with
trees and so that MSU can go green and
stay
so again thank you very much and I thank
you for your your time thanks Frank
we're also very grateful to the
Department of Forestry for many reasons
of course on the theme of trees but
there's a very specific thing that in
this project when you see the exhibition
you'll see at the the finest sort of
them the very final wall you'll see this
extraordinary staffs of strength and
this comes really out of an idea that
Valerie Von Frank had as well back in in
as we were in again at that sort of dark
period of last December when when I can
yet again there didn't seem to be all
that much hope for institutional change
we knew between the holidays of families
were coming back sister survivors were
coming back and so Valerie conceived the
idea of an expressive arts workshop and
worked with my friend and Nan Doolittle
who came in from Seattle and my wife
Ellen shot Schattschneider to do it created
expressive arts workshop to create
staffs of strength out of the wood the
branches from the very forests that we
all loved and the forestry department
you know again came to our rescue
allowing for the drying kiln to be used
so there are many things that we're
indebted to the forestry department but
that very quiet gesture that allowed
these very beautiful objects that you're
going to see inside to be made to
provide a sense of an external strength
sense of strength and beauty needs a
great deal to us and here to represent
the forestry department is it's the
department's chair Richard Kobe
thank you Mark I appreciate being here
today and I'm gonna expand on some of
the themes that that Frank started and
say a few words about how trees and
forests bring us comfort and help us and
help the earth heal in many ways so
current science is demonstrating that we
find great emotional comfort and trees
we know that the presence of trees
promotes positive mental health it
promotes resilience in cities trees and
neighborhoods bring people together and
help form stronger communities so we
have several studies like this that
support the emotional and social
benefits of trees and we don't fully
understand all the mechanisms yet from a
scientific perspective one explanation
might really go back to humanity's deep
connection with trees and forests and I
think that Shel Silverstein's book The
Giving Tree illustrates really nicely
the the benefits of trees and you
probably remember the plot it's about a
relationship between a tree and a boy as
he grows into a man and the tree
initially provides a place to climb and
play it then provides a source of fruit
and income the tree provides wood for a
house and for a boat and finally a stump
that is a quiet place to sit and rest
deriving benefits from trees however
really requires that we care for them
and that's that's the essence of
sustainable forestry in fact it was the
lack of caring for trees in Michigan in
the late 1800s after European settlement
that really brought to light many of the
hidden benefits of forests and that
includes many of these things are
familiar with wildlife habitats soil
conservation
clean water and if you think about just
those things as being really fundamental
aspects of healthy ecosystems and clean
water also being a fundamental aspect of
human health and well-being more than
half of the drinking water in the u.s.
today originates from a forest so we
have to take care of them the recovery
of forests from the decimation of the
late 1800s also speaks to resilience and
hope and it's something that all of us
here hold on to so no observer of
michigan's landscape in the late 1800s
would have predicted the beautiful and
productive forests of michigan today
that provides so many benefits in the
modern era issues have become more
complex and perhaps the need for healing
has increased and trees and forests
again have a really important role with
respect to climate change
forests are removing currently about 15
to 20 percent of carbon emissions to the
atmosphere through photosynthesis and
storing carbon and wood and that number
could really be doubled with good forest
management so forests have a long can
really contribute and go a long way
towards healing the Earth's climate a
world really needs healing at several
levels
and forests and trees provide generous
gifts they provide resilience and
strength to our emotional and physical
lives at the same time we have to care
for trees and forests and my hope is
that this tree will be a reminder of
resilience and hope and that how we care
for each other and that how we care for
the earth are deeply connected thank you
thanks Richard for those beautiful
remarks it's our hope that the tree will
stand for generations as a place of
comfort and also a reminder both of our
failures and our hope that our better
angels will triumph throughout this
entire process the exhibition has been
guided by a remarkable group of young
women of sister survivors all of them
eloquent articulate and tough pushing us
every day to honor to honor the promise
to create an exhibition that allows
their voices to speak one of the most
eloquent ins strong ggest of those
voices is Amanda Smith we're delighted
that she's here today to share her
reflections on this moment
hello some of you may not know me but
for those of you who don't my name is
Amanda I'm a sister survivor and I'm the
development and communication lead for
the army of survivors and I'm also a co
curator for the finding our voices
exhibit throughout the past year trees
have become symbolic for a lot of us for
me I've always really had a soft spot
for nature so when Valerie gave each of
the sister survivors a tree she didn't
really know how much that little teal
ribbon would mean to me there are many
things that I could stand here and say
but I think to help you understand a
little bit better I want to take you
back to about a year ago as part of my
healing journey when I wrote a little
bit about my tree in general you've been
here watching everyone and everything
for years you've become part of this
University's soul rooted into the earth
I am merely a human but you will be here
long after I have gone to watch
forevermore I stand here a mess of a
person like a tree who has just been
through a storm parts of me have been
broken and they may not fur be repaired
looking at you standing tall makes me
realize that I too can weather this
storm and I can flourish there's still
room to grow and give to the others
around me
you are the eyes of the universe seeing
it all shading everyone but never
knowing what lies in their shadows you
stand tall with no judgment and I hope
that in this particular storm it might
be almost over that you will be here
when my kids walk these streets when
they can say they're proud to be
Spartans you can provide them with the
inner strength and the guidance that you
have given me I would like to take this
time to say thank you to embark and to
Valerie because without you guys
my healing would not be nearly where it
is today the rest of the committee they
took a huge risk with working with us
and I will forever be grateful
you've kept me grounded and you've also
taught me to reach higher much like our
hopes for the American beech tree that
we're planting here today at this point
we'd love to ask three sister survivors
to come forward
Amanda Cosman and Mimi Wegener and Katie
Black who have something special for us
today
maybe has written no man has written a
poem actually two poems one poem you'll
see is what you wrote a year ago is in
the exhibit and Katie's gonna read it
for us
and then Amanda has a new poem that was
written last night which yeah last night
and then Mimi's gonna share something
with us too
I'm Katie Black and this is Amanda's
poem it's called Where I'm From. I am
from the time I landed on the beam the
smell of chalk roamed freely I am from
my darkest time tears rolling down my
face I am from the time I had
experienced something that would be in
every parent's nightmare the time where
there were suicidal thoughts I am from
the time of sadness where each statement
counted I'm from a family where things
used to be clear I've gained pain and
sadness the horror that comes to mind
when I envision what he did to me
I'm from the past pasts may never be
forgotten but there's nothing we can
change however we decide our futures the
happy moments I fall from the past but
land in the future so my name is Amanda
Cosman and I decided to write this poem
for this event today it's called my hope
tree my hope tree is a place I go if I'm
sad mad or just in a place to lie low I
go tomorrow I can go tomorrow if I have
some sorrow or in a year just because of
my fear my hope tree never leaves me
it only grows it never dies
so always be around to hear my cries I
go to this tree when I'm overthinking
only to realize my thoughts are sick are
just thinking if I lose all of my faith
I go to my tree or I can fly free or
just three will always be near me
hi I'm Mimi Wegener and I'm 12 years old
I am one of the sister survivors I would
like to thank all the sisters survivors
before me one thing that has stuck with
me is a quote by Aly Raisman she said we
may suffer alone but survive together my
hope is for people to visit the museum
and learn from our story so together we
can make real change to prevent
something like this from happening ever
again thank you the route of this long
journey of the last few years a constant
voice of decency integrity scholarship
and and hope in the midst of the times
when we all seen hopeless has been
Rebecca Campbell
Becky Campbell our colleague known to
many of you a faculty member in
psychology she's chaired the expert
working group relationship violence and
sexual misconduct pressured this
institution to live up to its promise
again and again trying to mobilize
resources it's been an upward battle
many times that he's also a member of
the board academic board of the museum
behind you and has helped guide us in
this long and difficult process as we've
worked with the sisters survivors with
the parents and we'll learn from each
other trying to come out of this long
dark abyss with a sense of renewed
resolve to be decent and kind and
compassionate to one another Becky has
been a model for all of us and I can
think of no one better to help bless the
the planting of the tree.
Becky Campbell
thank you very much good afternoon
everyone in my role as a research
psychologist I've been studying sexual
assault and its impact on survivors for
about 25 years now and in my research
interviews I asked survivors what it was
like to first tell somebody about their
experience of being sexually assaulted
or sexually abused I asked them what
happened in their disclosures and their
help seeking and what helped them along
their journey and what didn't help them
on their journeys and one of the things
I often hear from survivors is is that
when they first disclose what they
wanted what they wanted more than
anything was for someone just to listen
and bear witness to the truth of their
telling but that doesn't happen very
often all too often we jump ahead to
what has to happen next who else needs
to be told what are the steps who do we
report to without that fundamental
moment of holding still and bearing
witness to the truth that has just been
shared with you and so they ask me
whenever I do public speaking to gently
or maybe not so gently remind all of us
of our fundamental responsibility to
survivors to listen and to hear what
they say and I think that's also the
power of the trees is to stand and to
hold silent witness to what truth has
been told in term - of that very
fundamental responsibility that we have
- survivors so whether you're standing
whether you're sitting whether you're
kneeling with survivors to hold still to
be quiet to listen to what they say and
to believe them and then when they are
ready to help them on the next parts of
their journey thank you
so as we as we contemplate this this
hope tree in this listening tree I'd
like to ask Kat Ebert to come up cat has
been a sister survivor as well has been
a resilient voice especially for the
struggle to honor the experiences of our
LGBTQ community and to struggle for a
space that is safe and compassionate for
all gender non-conforming persons on on
this campus and beyond Kat has been a
great partner in this journey and I'm so
pleased today the last year at Michigan
State has been a difficult and painful
one to say the least as a student and a
sister survivor I felt a responsibility
to stay here at MSU and fight for
positive change I spoke at a Board of
Trustees meeting last April and system
suggested a new Resource Center that
caters specifically to survivors and
students that identify with specific
identities such as gender sexual
orientation and multiple multicultural
identities as a proud member of the
LGBTQ community
I felt that sexual assault resources for
marginalized groups were lacking at MSU
over the summer I attended countless
meetings and met with representatives
from a variety of resources on campus I
learned that it's not a lack of
resources but a lack of space and
awareness for these resources that's
missing on this campus
MSU now has an opportunity to be a role
model to believe in support all
survivors no matter their age race
gender or sexual identity to change the
campus climate from one that promotes
toxic masculinity and rape culture to
one that radiates positivity healing
trust and safety the planting of this
tree is another step in the right
direction for MSU I hope this tree
becomes a beacon of hope and comfort for
all survivors thank you all for being
here today standing in support and
solidarity with survivors everywhere and
an enormous thank you to Mark, Chong Anna
and the museum for your continuous
commitment to keep our story alive and
show support while we continue to
thank you this year mark are really
wonderful and remarkable emergence of
the new unit prevention outreach and
education playfully called po and of
course there's also been a wonderful
partner there's so many of us on this on
this campus and it is it's just
wonderful to have the director of Kelly
Schweda here with us today to share some
words as we as we dedicate the survivor
stream it's hard to follow all those
wonderful words that everyone has been
speaking it is my honor to speak at this
dedication I have been doing sexual
assault and relationship violence
prevention work at this university for
11 years in that time I have witnessed
both tremendous betrayal and in
tremendous courage at this institution
as Mark mentioned the prevention
outreach and education it was formed
department was formed April 30th of last
year before that we had only 1 full time
staff dedicated to prevention on this
campus we now have a team of 10 and the
reason that I am mentioning that is
because all of last year we were in the
process of hiring a wonderful dedicated
passionate team so we were bringing
candidates to campus while the two
ribbons were all on campus
everybody was everyone that we brought
to campus commented they were inspired
by that display the teal ribbons they
unified the campus and became a symbol
to elevate the voices that have been
silenced when I saw the two ribbon
display inside it literally took my
breath away
this tree is a permanent symbol of that
voice and strength we can see it from
our office over in P.O.E. and my staff can
see it and watch it grow to become a
wonderful symbol of strength thank you
we've had so many friends along this
journey
and the voices of many Deans
trying at a very difficult time
sometimes to make a claim through the
power of language and their words
through writing for decency and
compassion and having the university
finally live up to its finding founding
promises those words really resonated
through that very difficult and painful
crisis period that we are not fully
emerged from and of all those voices to
my mind among the most eloquent and
beautiful and always ringing true has
been Chris Long
the Dean whose College received just
behind us the Dean of the College of
Arts and Letters and just thank you for
all you've done and we're so glad that
you've agreed to sort of wrap things up
today with some closing remarks
In July of 2016 a storm moved across the
campus it was a warm day and the storm
came suddenly all of a sudden there were
dime sized hail falling from the sky and
I could see it from my office in Linton
Hall
when I emerged from the building I saw
that a great white oak tree had fallen
I really hadn't seen it before I saw it
there on the ground
Martin Buber the Jewish philosopher and
theologian talked about those moments
when you come into the presence of the
full being of another and when he talks
about that his example is an encounter
with the tree
at that moment when I saw that tree
destroyed I saw it for the first time
and what I didn't realize is that it
continues to live thanks to the
imagination of Frank Telewski
who understood that the tree has deep
roots and that that root system
continues to nourish it
Frank mentioned that the tree is over
350 years old that means it was here
long before Michigan State was founded
it was here when the national babes
three fires Confederacy of Ottawa Ojibwa
Potawatomi people's inhabited these
lands
and so it Tunes us into a different kind
of time intergenerational time
and as we plant this new beech tree we
planned it for ourselves and in honor of
the courageous voices of the survivors
who spoke
in a transformative way in the courtroom
in January of 2018 and their courage to
speak the truth and to hold
their abuser accountable and to hold the
institutions that fail to protect them
accountable are continuing to transform
this University and so as we plant this
tree
we ask that its roots grow deep
and nurture our attempts to cultivate a
culture of care and a listening presence
and made those roots in twine with the
roots of the resilient tree and the
roots of the other trees on this campus
so that they make a vast network of
support and care and so we as we
encounter the tree may learn to take
care of one it to listen
and to hear and to take action upon what
we learn in our encounters with one
another
every day may that be the legacy of this
tree and that may that be our legacy and
our work ahead thank you see long this
concludes the program we do invite
everyone to come and see the exhibition
that the sister survivors have worked
long and hard with with the Allies on
will open the doors at 5:30 we will be
able to at 6 o'clock to hear from
governor Whitmer from other officials
from from the sister survivors
themselves reflections and then the
exhibition itself will be open there's
wonderful art to work to see both in the
main gallery and upstairs Jordyn
Fishman's beautiful painting together
we were part too not to be missed on the
second floor it's going to be a
wonderful evening the exhibition will be
open for a year and the tree will be
here a lot longer we trust and we hope
it will be as everyone has said a place
of hope and understanding of listening
and also a place to remember that it's
on all of us to hold love for one
another in our hearts and also to insist
on accountability of all sorts from
individuals and from institutions it's a
it's a tree that well we hope help us
remember all of what we should be and
what we may become thank you
