On September 25, 2018, the New York Times published an article depicting President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s 1983 high school yearbook. Following his recent sexual assault allegations, the yearbook pages of his peers show several references to a “Renate Schroeder”, a then student at a nearby Catholic girl’s school.

Kavanaugh’s classmates state that the references to Renate were part of the football player’s boasting about their “conquests” with her. Needless to say, it was all very disrespectful, and this only bolsters the previous allegations that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted other women while in high school.

Interestingly enough, Renate along with 64 other people that knew Kavanaugh in his younger years wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee stating that Kavanaugh “has behaved honorably and treated women with respect.”

Regardless of this yearbook mishap, Christine Blasey Ford still stands with her claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, and this new evidence relating to binge drinking and disrespecting women doesn’t help his case.

This is just one piece of the large stream of negative coverage that Judge Kavanaugh has been receiving in the press lately. The fact that he is actively denying any sort of bad behavior has not been sitting well with the public. After this new evidence of blatant disrespect and frequent underage drinking, it may be best for Kavanaugh to take a different approach.

Although it is unclear whether or not he did commit any sexual assault, he definitely made questionable decisions in his younger years that he can apologize for. During this time in our nation of increasing awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault through the #MeToo movement, the last thing anyone wants to see is more denials. The public is looking for men to own up to their past actions, apologize, and show that they have grown and moved forward. They want to see people express that they truly understand why what they did was wrong.

As an adult man, I’m sure Kavanaugh has grown and learned so much since being in high school, and I believe this is something he should express to the public. He should not try to hide these childish actions now that they are public knowledge. Additionally, I think it would be beneficial for him to speak about his own daughters and how he wants and expects them to be treated as women and more importantly, people.

I believe this can be a learning experience for everyone, and Kavanaugh has the chance to create positive coverage for himself by showing the public his personal growth and legitimizing the serious issue brought up by the #MeToo movement rather than completely belittling these women’s claims.