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During the COVID-19-induced quarantine, many have found themselves glued to their phones and televisions, absorbing as much 鈥渢rue crime鈥� news and programming as possible. Bess Rowen, PhD, a faculty member in both Theatre and Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies, is not immune to the craze. Wanting to connect America鈥檚 obsession with murder and the justice system with gender and performance, Dr. Rowen crafted a course that examines the stories we hear and the stories we tell about victims and law enforcement, and why it鈥檚 mostly women who consume the content.

And then a global pandemic hit. Dr. Rowen had to figure out how to teach her hybrid online/in-person course in a way that facilitated the discussions she hoped to have about how gender figures in to violent crimes, the media鈥檚 coverage of those crimes when they were committed and now, and the general public鈥檚 response to that coverage. Tackling topics like the ethics of reporting on violent crimes, whose story is being told and how, and how our perception of that information plays into our ideas of truth and justice can be difficult when some students are learning from the other side of the screen. So Dr. Rowen dipped into the Gender & Women鈥檚 Studies department鈥檚 tradition of 鈥淐offee Klatches鈥� as a way to bring her students together in a socially distant way to talk through the heavy and often upsetting content of the course.

Each 鈥淜latch鈥� is made up of five students who meet in small groups during their class period, as well as virtually outside of class to research and reexamine a case that is not on the syllabus through an intersectional feminist lens. Diving deep into crimes that often involve domestic violence, abuse, and murder can be a difficult thing to take in, so having the ability to have conversations in their own space, perhaps cradling a cup of coffee, is an opportunity to get face-to-face safely during a pandemic that Dr. Rowen will likely carry into future iterations of the course. Each student becomes what Dr. Rowen refers to as a 鈥渓ead advocate鈥� for two individual cases, one of which they will present in their Klatches. By asking her students to take responsibility for crafting the narrative of a case in front of their peers, Dr. Rowen hopes to illuminate how accused people, detectives, media and lawyers present cases. She challenges her students, 鈥渋f you have to stake a claim what do you find out about your own personal way you view narrative? What path are you going to go down?鈥�

These presentations get at the core of what Dr. Rowen wants to impart to her students, who she stresses, are 鈥渕ore than likely to find themselves on a jury one day.鈥� She continued 鈥淚 want to make smarter listeners. Smarter audience members.鈥� Dr. Rowen鈥檚 strategy for this is to have her students examine whose stories are being told, and how. The syllabus sections are broken out by the names of the victims in the case (i.e. Nicole Brown Simpson & Ron Goldman) rather than by often more recognizable name of the perpetrator (i.e. OJ Simpson), sparking a conversation about why we popularize criminals and forget about the victims.

鈥淓ven the order we receive the information in has an impact on the way perceive a crime,鈥� says Rowen. Her students must present the 鈥渇acts of the case鈥� the way they were originally reported, before delving deeper.

鈥淲hat aspects of the case were highlighted by the media? Which were ignored? How do these choices play into the impact this case has had? For example, if you are told Person A killed Person B, it鈥檚 easy to decide Person A is guilty. Then, layer in that Person B was holding a knife to Person A鈥檚 throat. Then you learn Person A is female and was being abused by Person B, a male. The man had just threatened the female鈥檚 life. The female was pregnant at the time. How does that change your perception of guilt?鈥�

Dr. Rowen believes that group work brings about the most fruitful insight in these complicated discussions. 鈥淲e do small groups because talking with one another means we鈥檙e learning through dialogue, not through monologue. You have to be in discourse with other people, especially during this period of extreme isolation.鈥�