By Toria Bodden: Features Editor

This fall, the Office of Arts and Lectures has joined forces with the Social Justice and Equity Project to bring a varied and thought-provoking series of events to campus. Having the two departments work together to provide students with experiences that can help them navigate sensitive issues makes perfect sense to Marilyn Huerta, the Arts and Lectures coordinator and faculty advisor to the Arts Association. “Arts and Lectures is committed to sponsoring a program that speaks to issues that are raised on campus, and the Social and Equity Justice Project is one way of addressing some of the heated issues that were present on our campus just last year.” The events were selected and planned based on proposals from students, staff, faculty and members of the local community. “The Arts and Lectures Committee is devoted to providing a diverse program that offers inspiration,” Huerta states, and social justice focused events art part of meeting that goal.

The first event, a lecture by Ashley Walker on “Creating the Beloved Community: Working in Coalition for Social Justice,” takes place on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m.  Ms. Walker is a human rights pioneer who has been honored by the ACLU and National Organization of Women for her work. She also has extensive experience facilitating race and race relations discussions in San Diego as former executive director of the San Diego Human Relations Commission.

The next event in the series, on Sept. 23, is a film/lecture about “Capturing the Border’s History on Film,” by Paul Espinosa. Espinosa, an Arizona State University professor in the Department of Transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, has won eight Emmy awards for his documentary and fictional films. This events is also sponsored by the USUAB Clarke Activities Team and Visual and Performing Arts Department. On Oct. 5, the series will host Mark Day, who will be speaking about his human rights work and experiences as a Catholic friar and spiritual advisor to Cesar Chavez. There are two events in the series on Oct. 12, at noon and 7 p.m. The first will feature Dr. Zeus Leonardo speaking on “Critical Race Dialogue: Whiteness and the Politics of Safety,” a critical look at social theory on race relations. He is the author of Race, Whiteness, and Education, which the Education Review lauded for “beginning a fresh discourse on race by asking hard questions.” The second event is an inspiritual lecture by Alex Montoya, entitled “Swinging for the Fence.” Montoya, a triple amputee since birth, overcame physical difficulties and the emotional rollercoaster of seeking US citizenship, and now works for the San Diego Padres as the Latino relations manager. Dr. Wendy Moore, a lawyer and critical race theorist, will speak about the problems dealing with hate speech versus freedom of speech in a lecture entitled “Hate Speech, White Space,” a particularly relevant discussion for college campuses. The last event, which brings the entire Arts and Lectures Series to a close for fall semester, is “Disability Culture: Cripple Poetics,” a performance by Petra Kruppers and Neil Marcus. The two are members of the Olimpias, an international artist collective with a focus on performances that illuminate disability culture. Day, Leonardo, Montoya are also sponsored by the USUAB Clark Activities Team (CAT).

There are several other events in the Arts and Lecture Series, besides those in partnership with the Social Justice and Equity Project. All events in the Arts and Lecture Series are free to attend, with the exception of one live theater event. Many professors have also found ways of using lecture attendance to enhance classroom understanding and the learning experience, so mark your calendar now for these important events.