On February 20, Veritas at Stanford will be hosting Denhollander for an exploration of these ideas. The forum will explore Denhollander’s experience as a victim and advocate; the personal and religious forces behind her advocacy; and what all this means for the nation which launched the global MeToo movement.

Rachael Denhollander is a lawyer and former gymnast, widely known as the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar—former team doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University—of sexual assault. A 15-year-old club gymnast when Nassar first assaulted her, Denhollander went on to study law before coming forward with her accusations in 2016. Her courage inspired an outflow of witnesses, turning Nassar’s case into a nationwide reckoning on power, manipulation, and justice. In 2018, after Nassar had been tried and convicted, Denhollander then pierced the national conscience with an uncompromising testimony at his sentencing hearing. Her speech raised pressing questions for our current cultural moment: What is justice? Who is to be believed? Where do mercy and forgiveness come in?