WMU-Cooley’s fall kick-off Community Conversation panel discussion, “At the Heart of Gold,” on Thursday, Sept. 30, were (left to right) attorney Mick Grewal, Trinea Gonczar, and Judge Rosemarie Aquilina.
(Photo courtesy of WMU-Cooley)
Larry Nassar abuse survivor Trinea Gonczar joined Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina and attorney Mick Grewal during Western Michigan University Cooley Law School’s fall kick-off Community Conversation panel discussion “At the Heart of Gold” on Thursday, September 30. The discussion reflected on the recently released documentary, “At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal.”
The documentary reveals the dangerous system that prioritized winning over everything else, including protecting young female athletes.
Gonczar shared her experiences as a survivor, while Aquilina, who sentenced Nassar; and Grewal, who represented 139 of the 543 survivors against USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee, spoke about their roles in highly publicized scandal.
Gonczar is hopeful that change will happen someday.
“Unfortunately, change can take a long time,” Gonczar said during the panel discussion. “We’re far from change and we have a very long way to go, and we have a lot of big changes to come. I’m going to stay on the hope side of things, but I definitely recognize that, it might not be in my lifetime where we want to be, but we’re paving the way.”
Aquilina shared that these “sister survivors” and their supporters and advocates are still waiting for change.
“Saying you’ve learned something means something has changed and we are still waiting for a meaningful change,” Judge Aquilina said.
“And I believe necessity is the mother of fearlessness and it took these brave sister survivors everything they had to tell their truth, protect others and finally be heard. But what has really changed? More and more victims have come forward. They’re still met with the same silence and roadblocks that these brave sister survivors have had.
“We are far from seeing what needs to be done to protect everyone.”
During the panel discussion, Grewal added: “Becoming an attorney, you’re an advocate – you’re there to advocate on behalf of your client. When these survivors came forward and came to my office ... I said, ‘we’re here to listen and we’re going to believe.’
“Change is slow. You can hope it’s going to be in their lifetime. I sure hope it’s going to be in their lifetime for my kids and everyone who’s out there. Everybody deserves justice. We want transparency and we want accountability – and that takes time and you have to be willing to fight.”
The full “At the Heart of Gold” panel discussion can be viewed at WMU-Cooley’s YouTube channel.
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