On April 5th, The New York Times is asking college students around the country to come together and discuss women empowerment in the newest installation of their series, fittingly named, Get With The Times. Chelsea Handler, activist, author and comedian will be interviewed by Megan Twohey at Syracuse University. Fortunately, us Tulane students don’t have to pretend we aren’t completely jealous of the Syracuse students who get to witness the amazing Handler herself. The Crescent has collaborated with NYTimes to host a live viewing party in Kendall Cram Ballroom at 7PM CST the night of the event!
Titled “Fearlessly Forward”, Handler will be discussing the departure from her Netflix series in October of 2017 to focus on political activism and open doors for people’s voices to be heard. Handler has no problem admitting that Trump’s election as President wasn’t just a timely coincidence of her career shift.
She tells Twitter her goal:
“to be better informed, raise my voice, and participate in a more meaningful way. I want to travel the country and visit areas and people I don’t know enough about, speak at colleges and listen to students, and gain a better understanding of our political divide.”
If we know anything about Handler, it is the odd, yet completely perfect blend of crude and charming dialogue that has complimented her talk shows in the past. Handler is now using her influential voice to team up with foundations such as EMILY’s List, aiming to elect pro-choice Democrats into office, and bring people together who want to “get to work”. And her pairing with interviewer Megan Twohey, who was responsible for the reveal of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assaults, couldn’t be a better pairing.
This talk comes at a time more vital than others. With multiple demonstrations taking place on campus the last few months, Tulane students have shown that they are capable of far more than a social media post when it comes to speaking out on what they believe needs change. While women’s rights are and always will be a relevant topic, it seems Tulane will benefit from this discussion now more than ever. With the recent release of Tulane’s disturbing sexual assault statistics, Tulane students need to band together and generate ideas and productive dialogue that will progress us forward.
Despite the fact that this event isn’t directly taking place on our campus, there are multiple ways you can get involved such as recording a video of yourself asking a question for Chelsea and Megan to answer during their discussion. Towhey tweeted “I’m already planning questions for my April 5th chat with @chelseahandler! Let me know if you have any suggestions!”.
Join us at the live viewing party in LBC Room 213 at 7:00 PM on April 5th. Food will be provided, as well as an open space after the talk where students can further discuss the topics brought up. Please pre-register here and contact Rachel Wine if you would like to submit a video question.
