An Outstanding Advocate

An influential leader in protecting women from domestic abuse and trafficking, Julie Domonkos is a devoted volunteer leader and benefactor for Rutgers University’s Douglass Residential College. She will be inducted in the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni on April 24.

Julie Domonkos had been an advocate for victims of domestic violence in New York for ten years when she learned about a judge who dismissed a case against a man accused of threatening to kill his estranged wife and their 2-year-old daughter.

The judge dropped the aggravated harassment charge, citing a legal technicality, which outraged Domonkos. “I went to the papers,” she says, noting that she sharply criticized the judge’s decision in news reports.

To her surprise, the judge invited Domonkos to lunch.

“I spent an hour telling him about all the statistics of women who were threatened and then ended up being killed,” Domonkos says. “To his credit, he was very willing to change his mind, and he promised that he’d never look at these cases the same way again. From that point forward, he took a harder line in these cases. That’s a big impact, because now you have a judge who is going to hear case after case after case.”

That episode is just one example of how Domonkos spent much of her career working to protect survivors of domestic violence, punish abusers, and prevent violence against women. She started one of New York City’s first free legal clinics for survivors of abuse, and for six years she led My Sisters’ Place, a shelter and advocacy organization in Westchester County. She also was instrumental in helping the state of New York pass landmark legislation to prevent stalking and human trafficking.

“I always knew I wanted to go into public service,” she says. “I'm proud of the big changes I was able to make in law and policy to change the structures for battered women and their children.”

A Rutgers Scholarship

Domonkos grew up in a middle-class family in Kinnelon, New Jersey, and wanted to go “away” to college (an older sister had attended a community college close to home)—but money was tight. Then the family heard about a new Rutgers program that would pay full tuition for talented students. She applied and was one of 10 women chosen for the inaugural class of the Douglass Scholars Program. (Douglass College was renamed Douglass Residential College in 2007.)

At Rutgers, Domonkos majored in economics and took advantage of the benefits the Douglass Scholars Program offered, including smaller classes and opportunities for independent study. One class in particular, with then-political science faculty member Charles Noble who taught Marxist theory, proved to be transformative.

“Dr. Noble gave us a whole different perspective on political theory and economic organization,” Domonkos says. “It opened me up to thinking about social justice, and it put me on a path to thinking differently about what I wanted to contribute to the world.”

After graduating from Rutgers, Domonkos earned a law degree from New York University, then spent seven years at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where she did litigation on behalf of corporate clients. She loved the work, met her husband there, and gained the legal skills she knew she needed for a career in public service.

New York Advocacy

The chance to launch that career came in 1992, when she interviewed for a position with a New York agency called Victim Services (now Safe Horizon), the largest such organization in the nation. Domonkos was hired to start a legal clinic for battered women—one of the first of its kind. Starting with only a desk in a hallway, Domonkos recruited attorneys from all over the city and trained them to provide low-income women with pro bono legal help with protection orders, custody battles, and other matters. The clinic grew to more than 500 volunteer attorneys and several staff attorneys.

After a stint as Safe Horizon’s Director of Government Affairs, Domonkos became executive director of My Sisters’ Place, where she helped thousands of vulnerable women access the legal, law enforcement, social, and government services they needed. Throughout her career, she wrote and lectured often on domestic violence, and—drawing on her legal background—she worked with legislators to shape many pieces of state legislation, including laws against stalking and human trafficking, a law to require safe gun storage in homes, and a law increasing the duration of protective orders.

Domonkos retired from My Sisters’ Place in 2006, wanting to spend more time with her children. “Until then, I was never home,” she says. “Running an organization like that is just all-consuming.”

She consulted for the organization for several more years and remains an honorary member of the board. She also has pursued an interest in fiction writing: she has had five short stories published and written two as-yet-unpublished novels.

Douglass College

In 2013, Domonkos took a call from then-Douglass Residential College Dean Jacquelyn Litt, who invited her to get involved with her alma mater. To say she took the dean up on her offer would be a massive understatement: Domonkos helped create the Douglass Advisory Board, which she has served on since 2014 and has chaired since 2016. She helped lead Douglass’ centennial fundraising campaign (2014–2019), which raised $15 million, surpassing its goal by $5 million. She also has played a major advisory role in strategic planning for Dean Litt and the current dean, Meghan Rehbein, and her work helped lead to the creation of the BOLD Center for Leadership, Career, and Personal Development.

Domonkos is happy to serve. She received a “first-class education” at Rutgers, she says, and she sees Douglass as “the best undergraduate location dedicated to educating the women leaders of tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, her roommate from that very first class of Douglass Scholars, as well as a number of friends from their dorm, formed a tight-knit group of 14 who have stayed close to this day. Two of them—Shelly Alexander DC’83 and Mary Kay Brown DC’83—serve with Domonkos on the Douglass Advisory Board.

Many of them travel together each year, and when they’re near campus, they don’t miss a chance to get together at Olde Queens Tavern. “We lived together at Rutgers, and we learned together,” Domonkos says. “We really bonded and supported each other. And we’ve been there for each other ever since.”

Domonkos is one of five new inductees who will be formally enshrined in the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni in a ceremony starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at the Palace at Somerset Park, 333 Davidson Avenue, Somerset, New Jersey. For more information, visit the Hall of Distinguished Alumni page.

Nominator Remarks

“Given her innate qualities, incredible leadership skills (leading by example), her respectful treatment of everyone she encounters, and her private and humble engagement with her own numerous accomplishments, Julie is making a big difference at Douglass and Rutgers."

—Barbara Rodkin DC’83, a 2020 inductee into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni

“Julie’s leadership and dedication have had a profound and lasting impact on Douglass. From helping us surpass our goals during the Power of 100 Years Campaign to shaping the 2016 Strategic Plan, her vision has strengthened Douglass’ partnership with the broader university and set the stage for the revitalization of the Douglass Campus. Her generosity and unwavering support continue to inspire our community, and we are incredibly proud to have Julie represent Douglass in the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.”

—Rutgers Douglass Residential College Dean Meghan Rehbein