Identity of Speakers
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Janet Mock
Unaffiliated
Invited for non-academic lectureJanet Mock is a black, native Hawaiian trans woman and activist.
Resources
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Recognized student group event
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Incident Political Orientation:
Left-of-spectrum -
Incident Responses:
Rally or Protests
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Incident Status:
No litigation
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
Janet Mock is a black, native Hawaiian trans woman and activist. She was scheduled to deliver a talk called “Redefining Realness” on Brown University’s campus on March 21, 2016. Mock was invited to be a keynote speaker by Moral Voices, a student group that aims to raise awareness about social justice issues of global importance. Moral Voices is also funded by a grant from within Brown/RISD Hillel’s budget.
After the group invited Mock to lecture on campus, students drafted a position on Change.org asking Mock to disassociate her lecture from Hillel. The petition argued that the invitation was an attempt to “pinkwash” the history of Israel or “improve Israel’s image and rebrand it as a liberal, modern and ‘hip’ country.” The petition received 160 signatures. On March 16, Mock announced that she had cancelled her campus talk.
