Even after experiencing the worst of the Internet, Lisa-Michelle Kucharz ’90, knows that it’s become essential to our lives. Yet her lived experience impacts every word she speaks at the podium.
“I am not here to tell you to shun social media, avoid all apps or stay away from the internet. Technology, the internet and social media are some of the greatest gifts of the 21st century,” Kucharz said. “While these gifts can be extraordinarily positive, negative and sometimes devastating behaviors have emerged through their use. Online abuse is one of the most important conversations today, especially for college students.”
Kucharz earned her bachelor’s in political science at Binghamton University and was covered in the Fall 2022 edition of the Binghamton University Magazine for her work in cyberbullying prevention. Although originally an expert in marketing and communications and an adjunct professor at Long Island University, she knows the details of online abuse and can speak on the laws surrounding it very well — because she lived it herself. Starting in 2014, she was the victim of months of endless discriminatory and hateful speech, as well as a targeted effort to instill fear of bodily harm.
On Sept. 20, 2023, the seventh annual John and Lawrence Bonzani Memorial Lecture took place in the Chamber Hall in the Anderson Center for the Performing Arts. The topic was “The Law & Online Abuse”, and Kucharz spoke about her experience as a victim and activist.
After months of repeated torment, Kucharz said, she decided to deactivate or delete all of her social media. Yet removing herself was still not enough to prevent the steady stream of offenses that were building up around the case. Using false names and aliases, the harasser sent emails and messages through Kucharz’s website, contacted her friends and family and even doxxed her (a term referring to the release of private or identifying information), sharing her parents’ address.