The undergraduate college of Arts, Culture and Humanities is organizing the first Stand Up to Bullying Day for Stony Brook at the Tabler Black Box Theatre at 6 p.m. Wrist bands from the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, Inc. will be given out and there will be speakers from ACH’s new Bullying Task Force.
The Ben Cohen Stand Up Foundation, Inc. was founded in May 2011 by retired professional rugby player Ben Cohen, whose father was beaten to death after standing up for an employee.
“We are very excited this,” said Ben Marchese, the ACH undergraduate college adviser. “The support we have received so far is very great. We are happy; it can only get bigger from here.”
Stony Brook has already created a Community Pledge in response to Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi’s suicide last year. ACH has created its own commitment that puts more emphasis on actively taking a stand. This Stand Up Commitment was created on Monday and has already been signed by 200 ACH students.
No college campus is without bullying, not even Stony Brook.
“I think college campuses across the country do,” Marchese said. “I think this is a wide spread thing. I think Stony Brook is unique in the stance that it’s taking against it: Particularly, with the start of the Community Pledge last year.”
Jeremy Marchese, ACH Fellows Benn Lam and Danielle Barbato, and Graduate Assistant to the Dean of Students Denise DeGennaro are some of the Stand Up representatives who will speak at the event.
Future events will be planned to bring the Stand Up foundation’s message to the entire campus.
