Interview description

Dr. June Larkin, former Director of Equity Studies and professor in the Women and Gender Studies Department, completed her graduate studies at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) in 1993. Larkin describes her involvement in the creation of OISE’s Sexual Harassment Caucus, a group formed to address sexual harassment at the institution through policy and education. With seventeen years of prior experience as an elementary school teacher, Larkin shares how this advocacy shifted her doctoral work to focus on sexual harassment in high schools and also led to developing educational toolkits and workshops to support school boards looking to implement their own policies. In discussing her research, community-based initiatives, and teaching, she reflects on the definition of activism and many forms it can take. Within the context of the Equity Studies Program more broadly, she notes the ways in which she and other professors have worked to respond to the shifting interest of students, particularly to support their engagement in issues at and beyond the University.

Organizations

• Ontario Institute of Studies for Education (OISE)
• Sexual Harassment Caucus, OISE
• Sexual Harassment Resistors Everywhere (SHREW)
• Equity Studies Program, New College, University of Toronto
• Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto

Subject Topics

• Women’s movement and feminism
• Sexual harassment policy
• Violence against women
• Equity in education
• Intersectionality
• Equity Studies
• HIV/AIDS
• Sexual health
• Community engagement
• Institutional response
• Occupy! Movement
• Activist scholarship

Citation: University of Toronto Archives. Oral History Collection on Student Activism. Oral history interview with June Larkin conducted by Ruth Belay and Daniela Ansovini, 24 February 2020. A2020-0010/012S.