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Human Rights Declaration Subject of Series
A series of speakers and panel discussions
planned for Ithaca College this fall will recognize and honor
the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. Titled "What About Human Rights In Our
Own Backyard?" the series will include an off-campus discussion
at the Southside Community Center in Ithaca. The series is sponsored
by Ithaca College's Roy H. Park School of Communications, Office
of Minority Affairs, and Office of the Ithaca Opportunity Program/Higher
Education Opportunity Program. All of the lectures and discussions
are free and open to the public.
On Wednesday, September 9, members of the
Park School's journalism faculty will discuss "News Coverage
of Human Rights: A Faculty Perspective" at 7:30 p.m. in
Textor 101. The panel will focus on both national and international
human rights and gender issues, and how those issues are covered
in the press.
The human rights issues most pertinent to
the local community will be the topic of a program on "Human
Rights and the Public Interest: What You Can Do,"
scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Southside
Community Center, 305 South Plain Street. Area human rights activists
will draw attention to the problems the community faces and discuss
how citizens can become directly involved in change. Jill Swenson,
associate professor of television-radio, will serve as moderator
for both panel discussions.
 The
founder and executive director of the Center for Human Rights
Education (CHRE), Loretta Ross, will be the featured speaker
on Wednesday, October 7. Titled "Human Rights U.S.A.: Bringing
It Home," the talk will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Emerson
Suites, Phillips Hall. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, CHRE is a training
and resource center for grassroots human rights activists. The
center is currently developing the Model Cities Program, an effort
to build momentum behind local human rights activism and to promote
cooperation between schools and communities. Prior to founding
CHRE in 1996, Ross was the national program research director
at the Center for Democratic Renewal, a clearinghouse for information
on hate groups and bias crimes.
On Monday, November 9, "News Coverage
of Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights" will be the topic of a
talk by Barbara Raab, a producer for the NBC Nightly News.
Her presentation is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Emerson Suites,
Phillips Hall. Raab is a member of the NBC News Diversity Advisory
Council, which advises news executives on diversity issues in
coverage and staff. She was a field producer and writer for Dateline
NBC before joining the Nightly News and has worked
as a television journalist in New York City and Chicago since
1982. Raab has served on the board of directors of the National
Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, for which she authored
its "Report on Gay and Lesbian Issues in Electronic Journalism."
A number of other programs will be held this
fall in the community and at Cornell University, leading up to
the international observance on December 10 of the human rights
declaration's 50th anniversary. For more information, call (607)
274-3910. |
