Sonoma State University hosted The Oxford Consortium for Human Rights (OCHR) Workshop "Human Rights, Activism, and Community Action" from January 11 to 15, kicking off the OCHR’s 2024 workshop series.
“We built a community over the course of the workshop that 40 of us are continuing through an active group chat. Though we’re from different places and programs in Utah, Oregon, South Korea, and others, we all left with the mindset that we want to start doing something, making change wherever we are and however we can,” said Ismael Lopez, one of the participating SSU students.
The Consortium currently hosts annual spring and summer workshops for students and faculty in Oxford with a goal of participants in conversations and skill-building around the theory and practice of community action.
“We were delighted to once again partner with Sonoma State University to host this workshop,” said Professor Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, OCHR Executive Board Member. The long tradition of civil rights activism in the region’s farmworker community was among the reasons they chose this site, noted Gadkar-Wilxoc, who is Chair of Law and Justice at Quinnipiac University,
“The impact of these workshops for students cannot be overstated,” said Troi Carleton, Dean of SSU’s School of Social Sciences.
“Students told us they came in thinking they didn’t belong, and they left knowing they did,” she said. “We are honored and grateful to be in partnership with OCHR and in the work they’re doing to elevate human rights in the world – starting with young people in these workshops.”
About 50 student and faculty participants were sponsored to attend by their institutions. Sponsors include Kyung Lee University, Cal State Pomona, Cal State LA, the University of Texas, the University of Oregon, Quinnipiac University, and Northwestern Community College, among others.
Some of the questions that were considered as participants heard from scholars, engaged in discussions and work groups, and learned from local activists:
- How do we mobilize responses to build compassionate and just communities?
- How do we integrate the personal and the political?
- What is the role of international human rights principles on the scale of a small local community?