Tyler Clementi Center at Rutgers University to Be Dedicated Monday
Rutgers University will dedicate a new center Monday named after Tyler Clementi that will devoted to research and teaching in support of vulnerable youth.
Clementi was a freshman at Rutgers in 2010 when he jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge a day after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, and a fellow hallmate, Molly Wei, used a webam on Ravi’s computer and a computer in Wei’s dorm room to view Clementi kissing another man.
The Tyler Clementi Center, a collaborative effort between Rutgers University and the Tyler Clementi Foundation, will draw from academic disciplines across the university and throughout the nation to create new programs and approaches to address issues that confront young people with an emphasis on youth making the transition from home to college.
The center will offer lectures, conferences and training on such topics as the use and misuse of new technologies and social media. It will also look at youth suicide, particularly among LGBTQ youth and other young people, during the transition to adulthood. Other topics will include the adjustment and assimilation into college life, bullying and cyberbullying, and understanding and promoting safe and inclusive social environments. The goal of the center is to provide scholarly support for the work of policymakers, social activists, community leaders and other advocates for vulnerable youth.
U.S. Rep. Rush Holt and other officials will join with Tyler Clementi’s parents, Joseph and Jane Clementi, to celebrate the opening of the center Monday morning at 11:30 at the Busch Campus in Piscataway.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.