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Events

Events specifically for STPEC students

Spring 2009 archive

SPRING 2009 Event Descriptions:

Ray Luc Levasseur: Defendant in the Great Sedition Trial of Western Mass Returns After 20 Years

Thursday, November 12, 2009, 7PM
SOM 137, Amherst, MA

November 11, 2009
For Immediate Release

The intent of this message is to clarify that Ray Luc Levasseur will NOT be speaking at tomorrow's event "The Great Western Massachusetts Sedition Trial: Twenty Years Later." He will neither attend nor speak through
video. To do so would be too risky to his parole conditions.

The talk and forum entitled “The Great Western Massachusetts Sedition Trial: Twenty Years Later” will take place on Thursday November 12 at 7:15 p.m. at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in School of Management Room 137.
Participants will include sedition trial defendant Pat Levasseur, members of the 1989 Springfield sedition trial legal defense team, and a juror from the trial.

Related Boston Globe article

November 10, 2009
Press Release

A talk and forum on “The Great Western Massachusetts Sedition Trial: Twenty Years Later” will be held on Thursday November 12 at 7:15 p.m. at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in School of Management Room 137. Participants will include Ray Luc Levasseur and members of the 1989 Springfield sedition trial defense team.

The sponsoring UMass departments and organizations do so because of their commitment to free speech and academic freedom.

Sponsoring departments include:
Communication Department*
Economics Department
History Department
Department of Languages, Literatures, and Culture
Social Thought and Political Economy Program
Sociology Department
Sociology Graduate Student Association
Student Government Association Executive
Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Program

The event is also sponsored by the following non-profit community organizations, foundations, and businesses: the Rosenberg Fund for Children, Food for Thought Books, Vermont Action for Political Prisoners, and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.
Several UMass departments have added their support to this event in the name of protecting the cherished American values of freedom of speech and academic freedom, which they believed to be threatened by the decision to cancel the event under pressure from a variety of outside organizations. Sponsors’ support for this event should in no way be construed as an endorsement of Levasseur, his political beliefs, or any of his past activities.
For further information, contact sedition.trial@gmail.com.
*In the service of instructing student reporters, the Journalism Program in the Department of Communication does not sponsor political guests and is not co-hosting Levasseur's visit to UMass.

Original event description:

In 1989, Ray Luc Levasseur, along with his comrades Pat Levasseur and Richard Williams, stood
trial in Springfield, Massachusetts on Federal charges of seditious conspiracy. After ten months of
deliberation, in the most expensive trial in Massachusetts history, a jury found all three not
guilty of conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government through armed force. In his first public
address in the Pioneer Valley in twenty years, Levasseur will reflect on the past and present
significance of the Springfield sedition trial victory. He will also discuss his life experience as a French-
Canadian youth growing up in a Maine mill town; as a Vietnam veteran; as an anti-imperialist revolutionary
active in the Civil Rights, antiwar, and prison reform movements; as a prisoner arrested with
other members of the “Ohio 7” and incarcerated for twenty years for his involvement in a series of
bombings carried out to protest U.S. backing of South Africa’s racist apartheid regime and Central
American right-wing death-squads, and his 2004 release and ongoing involvement in movements for
social justice.
Part of the UMass Amherst WEB DuBois Library Special Collections Colloquium Series.
For more information contact Erika Arthur at earthur@acad.umass.edu.

Celebrate International Workers’ Day & the Movement for Good Green Jobs

Friday * May 1 * 2009
7-9pm {doors open 6:30}
Campus Center Auditorium, UMass Amherst

followed by Sustainable Energy Summit Dance Party

This event is in conjunction with Co-op Power’s annual Sustainable Energy
Summit. You can register at www.cooppower.coop.

co-hosted by

Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Co-op Power WMUA 91.1FM
UMass Labor Relations & Research Center
UMass Labor/Management Workplace Education
UMass Graduate Student Senate
UMass Student Government Association
University Staff Association / Massachusetts Teachers Association
AFSCME Local 1776
Massachusetts Society of Professors / MTA
American Friends Service Committee

music by

The Raging Grannies * Verne McArthur * Jose <http://www.joseayerve.com/>
Ayerve * Tom Neilson <http://tomneilsonmusic.com/> & Kat Allen * Red Valley
Fog <http://www.myspace.com/redvalleyfog> * Jay Mankita
<http://www.jaymankita.com/>

+

long-time community and labor organizer
Stewart <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-qzEsGJoKM&feature=related> Acuff

{Special Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO <http://www.aflcio.org/>
{National Jobs with Justice <http://www.jwj.org/> Board Member}

maps & free parking info at http://parking.umass.edu

In Honor of International Women's Day
Everywoman's Center and VOX: Students for Choice Present:

THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES 2009

March 6th: 7:30pm and March 7th: 6pm and 9pm
Bowker Auditorium, UMass Amherst
Open to the public and wheelchair accessible

The Vagina Monologues is an award-winning play based on playwright Eve Ensler’s interviews with over 200 women. The play celebrates women’s lives and sexuality through a series of stories that are at times hilarious, heartbreaking, or sexy. V-Day is a global movement to end the violence that affects one three girls and women in the United States and around the world.

This year’s show spotlights women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a war that has raged on and off since 1998, over 300,000 women and girls in the DRC have been raped. Stand up against this violence! Support the Congolese women and girls who have spoken out. Join us for The Vagina Monologues.!
(Due to mature content and language, parental discretion is strongly advised).

Advance tickets are available at the Fine Arts Center, (545-2511) and at Bowker the night of the performances.
Tickets $5 (students and low income), $10 (general public)

Proceeds benefit V-Day, Everywoman’s Center, and VOX: Students for Choice.
For more information about the show or EWC services call 413-545-0883.

SBS Scholarship Application Workshop

The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is holding a workshop to help
SBS undergraduates build their skills in applying for scholarships. The
workshop will take place:

Thursday, February 12, 2009
5:30 - 7:00 pm
Memorial Hall Lounge

Here is the basic agenda:
1. Where can I find scholarships?
2. How do I put together a competitive application?
3. Q&A

Pizza will be served.
Students are asked to RSVP by email to events@sbs.umass.edu so that we can
order enough pizza.

Presenters include: Anne Peramba (financial aid), Wesley Dunham (Alumni
Association), Meredith Feltus (Commonwealth College), Jackie
Brousseau-Pereira (SBS dean's office), Laura Reed (political science), BJ
Roche (journalism)

Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North

Film in Honor of African-American History Month
Wednesday, February 4, 7 - 9 p.m.
Bartlett Hall Auditorium, Room 65, UMass Amherst

From 1769 to 1820, the DeWolf family trafficked in human beings. Fathers, sons and grandsons sailed from Bristol, RI to West Africa, carrying rum to trade for African men, women and children. Captives were taken to Cuban plantations owned by the DeWolfs or sold at auction. Ships were then loaded with sugar and molasses, bound for the family's rum distilleries in Bristol. Over the generations, the family owned 47 ships that transported thousands of Africans across the Middle Passage into slavery. By the end of his life, James DeWolf had been a U.S. Senator and was reportedly the second richest man in the United States.

In this critically acclaimed film, this Northern family discovers that their ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. Join them as they come face-to-face with the history and legacy of New England's hidden enterprise. The questions the DeWolf descendants face are shared by all of us: What is the legacy of slavery? How does Northern complicity change the equation? What's owed for the actions of our country's ancestor's? What would repair - spiritual and material - really look like? What would it take?

A conversation with filmmaker and family member Katrina Browne; and family member Holly Fulton and her husband, William Peebles, follows the screening of this powerful and deeply personal story. Browne wrote, directed and produced the project, with co-director, editor and writer Alla Kovgan, and co-director and executive producer Jude Ray. In December, the Women Film Critics Circle honored Browne with its "Courage in Film making" award, citing the documentary as one of the three best of 2008. Read more at www.tracesofthetrade.org.

Sponsored by: the Women of Color Leadership Network, the Health Education of University Health Services, the Committee for the Collegiate Education of Black and other Minority Students, and Everywoman's Center, with support from the Sociology Department, the Student Government Association, Student Bridges and the Black Student Union.

Information: Tom Schiff, Ed.D., (413) 577-5181; tschiff@uhs.umass.edu.

Fall 2008 Archive

MOTHERWOMAN PRESENTS:  A FAMILY ELECTION EVENT (and onsies party!)

Saturday, October 18th from 8:30am-12noon
Media Education Foundation on Masonic Street in Northampton.
Free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible
Childcare Provided: Please call 253-8990 by October 16th to reserve a slot.

Event Schedule
8:30-9am: schmooze,  food provided by Woodstar Café.
9-10am: A showing of the powerful, engaging film "The Motherhood
Manifesto" about the political economy of parenthood in America.
10-11am: The film screening will be followed by discussion.
Representatives from the Obama and McCain campaigns have been invited to
be there to answer your questions about laws and policies that would
help parents, families and children.
11-12noon: Decorate baby "onesies" with messages about our hopes and
dreams for our children and families, and the need for a family friendly
America.
Co-sponsored by: Everywoman's Center; Umass Women's Studies; Women of
Color Leadership Network and STPEC.
For more information please contact Chrystel Romero, MomsRising
Coordinator at 253-8990 or chrystel@motherwoman.org


These onesies will be displayed at the event on a clothesline and
locally as part of the national MomsRising.org Onesie Project which is
designed to increase public awareness of the need for a more family
friendly America.
MotherWoman is YOUR mother's support and family advocacy organization.
Our mission is to support and empower mothers to create positive
personal and social change for ourselves, our families, our communities
and the world.
MomsRising of the Pioneer Valley is our political arm which is
affiliated with the national MomsRising.org movement. Our MomsRising of
the Pioneer Valley program is working right here to organize mothers,
fathers and caregivers as political activists to work on issues that
impact YOUR family. Important issues include: Maternity/paternity Leave,
Open, flexible work, TV we choose and after-school programs, Healthcare
for all kids, Excellent childcare, Realistic & fair wages, Sick leave
(M.O.T.H.E.R.S.).
--
NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS*
Melanie DeSilva
Executive Director
MotherWoman, Inc.
96 N. Pleasant St. Suite 202
PO Box 2635
Amherst, MA 01004
(413) 253-8990
melanie@motherwoman.org
http://www.motherwoman.org

Women and the Vote: Use It or Lose It!*

October 2, 2008 in CC 917 at 4:00
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible
(*Your Political Power!)

On August 26, 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified by one vote and
after more then 70 years of struggle, women in the United States were
finally allowed to vote. How do we honor the women who fought for our
right to participate in this democratic process? How will the up-coming
Presidential election affect the lives of women? How will it impact your
life? Are you registered to vote?

On October 2, 2008, Professor Joyce Averch Berkman, Professor of
History and Women's Studies, (UMass Amherst), will provide a brief
overview of the long fight for women's suffrage and the importance of
women's participation in this years election. We will view selections
from the award winning film, One Woman, One Vote, which documented this
struggle, including why the entrenched opposition feared that the
women's vote would ignite a social revolution. Carol Rothery from the
League of Women Voters will describe their current work to preserve and
promote this right and also conduct voter registration. Don't miss your
chance to be a part of this compelling election! Come and register to
vote! For more information contact: Everywoman's Center @ 545-0883

"This is the only tour that sells”: Tourism, Disaster, and National Identity in New Orleans

Professor Phaedra Pezzullo
Associate Professor of Communication and Culture, Indiana (and 1996 graduate of the STPEC Program)
Monday, October 6 @ 3:30 in the Campus Center 803 UMass-Amherst

For many, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., was an ideal vacation destination, with the commercial tourist industry providing one third of the municipal budget. This changed on August 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina made landfall and, due to a series of events, the majority of the city was submerged underwater. In December 2005, the multinational corporation, Gray Line Tours, announced its business in New Orleans would re-launch featuring “Katrina Tours.” Controversy immediately arose, particularly as neighborhoods previously outside commercial tourist imaginaries now were on tourists’ itineraries. Drawing on secondary debates and participant observation of the tour performances, I argue that tourist practices at disaster sites offer a compelling way to negotiate the social drama of nationhood through challenging tourist imaginaries of space and belonging.

The controversy surrounding Katrina tours also provides an opportunity to consider the ethics and the efficacy of commercial and noncommercial tourist practices in the aftermath of an unjust environmental disaster.

Professor Pezzullo is author of: *Toxic Tourism: Rhetorics of Travel, Pollution, and Environmental Justice* (University of Alabama Press, 2007), Winner of the Winans/Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric/Public Address, the Critical & Cultural Studies Book of the Year, and the Christine L. Oravec Research Award in Environmental Communication. She also co-edited: *Environmental Justice and Environmentalism: The Social Justice Challenge to the Environmental Movement* (MIT Press, 2007). For more information, see her website: http:// www.indiana.edu/~envtrhet

Speaker sponsor: Department of Communication
Host: Prof. Donal Carbaugh: carbaugh@comm.umass.edu

Black Europeans: Race and the New Europe
W.E.B. DuBois Lecture Series (click for details)

Everywoman's Center Presents: Women and Self-Defense

September 16th and September 18, 2008 from 4:00-5:30 PM
Newman Center/ University of Massachusetts
Free, open to the public and everyone welcome!

On September 16th and September 18, 2008 Everywoman Center at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst will host Janet Aalfs, head
instructor and Director of the Valley Women's Martial Arts, who will
facilitate a two part Women and Self-Defense workshop from 4:00-5:30.
Valley Women's Martial Arts, a not-for-profit school founded in 1977,
provides introductory and ongoing instruction for women and girls of all
ages in an encouraging and friendly environment .The workshop will
combine external and internal martial arts practice, assertiveness
training, and discussion of the issues involved in learning effective
methods for self-protection and violence prevention. This is a special
opportunity not to be missed!
Pre-registration and attendance at both sessions is required and space
is limited. To register please contact: Sandy Mandel at
smandel@admin.umass.edu <mailto:smandel@admin.umass.edu> or 545-5827 and
leave your name, phone number and/or email.

Established in 1972, Everywoman's Center (EWC) is a multicultural
campus-based women's center serving the needs of the diverse cultural
and linguistic populations of the university and surrounding community.
For more information about programs and services contact: 545-0883 or
www.umass.edu/ewc

*****************************************************************************************

An Improbable Journey: One Judge's Path to the Federal Bench
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Time: 4:00 pm
Place: *Amherst Room, Campus Center 10th Floor

Presented by: The Honorable Eduardo C. Robreno '69 (M.S., labor studies),
United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Reception to follow. This event is free and open to the public. Handicap
access is available.

This lecture is part of the annual Dean Alfange, Jr. Lecture Series in
American Constitutionalism, sponsored by the Department of Political
Science.

*Eduardo Robreno, the first Cuban American appointed to the federal bench,
came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1960 through Operation Pedro Pan, which
brought more than 14,000 unaccompanied youth into the country. Following a
brief stay in Florida, he was resettled to Northampton, Massachusetts, to
live with foster parents. He went on to receive a B.A. from Westfield State
College and a master's degree from UMass Amherst. After working as a union
organizer for the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Robreno attended law
school at Rutgers. He served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of
Justice Antitrust Division from 1978 to 1981 before entering private
practice in Philadelphia. In 1992 he was appointed U.S. District Judge for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. *
**

--
Jackie Brousseau-Pereira
Director of External Affairs
Dean's Office
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
University of Massachusetts Amherst
226 Draper Hall
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: 413-545-1933
Email: jackie@sbs.umass.edu or jackiebp@gmail.com