The Social Justice Institute presents meaningful events where students, scholars and community members gather together to tap into our individual and collective psyches and souls, hearts and minds, knowledge and networks of support, and dare to draw forth the words, analyses, strategies and actions that respect and uplift human dignity and life. We are honored to provide distinctive educational opportunities – and we invite you to join us and become partners in our work.
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History is Relevant: The Israeli New History and Its Legacy
Co-sponsored with the Department of History
- Date and Time: Thursday, September 13, 4:30-6 pm
- Location: Wolstein Auditorium, 2103 Cornell Road
Ilan Pappé, Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies of the University of Exeter, will discuss the emergence of the Israeli New History as an interpretation of 1948, and the post-Zionist debate that followed this new interpretation. He will then assess the impact of the New History on Israel and Palestine since its emergence. The talk will conclude with an update on the present historiographical orientations in historical research on Israel and Palestine. Free and open to the community.
Locking Up Our Own: Crime & Punishment in Black America with James Forman, Jr.
- Date and Time: Thursday, September 20, 11:30 am-12:45 pm
- Location: Tinkham Veale University Center Senior Classroom, 11038 Bellflower Rd.
Author and former public defender James Forman, Jr., will speak about Locking Up Our Own: Crime & Punishment in Black America, the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. This critically acclaimed book explores mass incarceration, its disproportionate impact on people of color, and why the war on crime that began in the 1970s has been supported by many African American leaders in the nation’s urban centers. Free and open to the community. RSVPs recommended to socialjustice@case.edu.
Queer Love: Then & Now - An Art Installation
Co-sponsored by Collective Action Towards Social Justice and the LGBT Center
- Dates: September 24-28
- Location: Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, 11235 Bellflower Rd.
Whoever you are, whatever you are, this is for you. Stop by anytime to see the photographs and objects of this Arts-in-Action exhibit. Join the community on Friday, September 28, from 6-9 pm, for a Living Art Installation event. For more information or to get involved, contact Dani Dickinson.
Childhood Trauma at the U.S. Border: A Panel Discussion
Co-sponsored by Alianza Latina and the Schubert Center for Child Studies
An event of Hispanic Heritage Month
- Date and Time: Tuesday, September 25, 2:30-4 pm
- Location: Noble Commons, MSASS, 11235 Bellflower Rd.
This critical and timely discussion will focus on the experiences of immigrant children and teens detained at the border, including the legal context under which family separations are occurring, the medical and therapeutic guidelines for youth exposed to trauma, issues of consent for treatment, long-term consequences of internment and options for advocacy and activism for allies. Panelists are: Sana Loue (CWRU School of Medicine), Gabriela Sehinkman (The Centers for Families and Children), and Jane Timmons-Mitchell (CWRU School of Medicine and the Begun Center for Violence Prevention). SJI Co-Director John Flores will moderate. The event is free and open to the community. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Gun Violence in America - A Public Health Crisis
Co-sponsored by the CWRU Master's in Public Health Program
- Date and Time: Wednesday, October 3, 6-7:30 pm
- Location: Crawford Hall, Room A9, 10900 Euclid Avenue
Annie Du (CWR '21), a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, will convene a panel to discuss the critical issue of gun violence through a public health lens. Featuring Dr. Scott Frank, founding Director of the CWRU Master of Public Health Program and Director of Public Health Initiatives, and representatives from Moms Demand Action, the discussion will include ways individuals can become involved in violence prevention and policy advocacy. Bring your thoughts and questions. The event is free and open to the community. Light refreshments will be served. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Aftermath: Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria and Cleveland Resettlement
Co-sponsored by the CWRU Latino Alumni Association
An event of Hispanic Heritage Month
- Date and Time: Thursday, October 4, 6-7:30 pm
- Location: Clapp Hall, Room 108, 2080 Adelbert Road
Join us for a discussion focusing on the economic and social issues that previously weakened the Puerto Rican infrastructure, the devastation of Hurricane Maria and its aftermath, and the efforts of local organizations to support new migrants in Cleveland. Judge Jazmin Torres-Lugo (a Puerto Rico native) will moderate. Panelists:
- Dr. Luzma Cardona (Puerto Rico native, CWRU Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic
- Edwin Colon (MGT '18, GRS '18, Puerto Rico native, CWRU Institute of Transformative Molecular Medicine)
- Juan Molina Crespo (Executive Director, Hispanic Alliance, Inc.)
- Shaleika Vargas (CWR '10, Law '13, Vargas Law Co., Board Vice-President, Spanish American Committee)
The event is free and open to the community. Light refreshments will be served. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Professionals with Pride – LGBTQIA+ Career Fair
Co-sponsored by the CWRU LGBT Center (in partnership with the CWRU Post-Graduate Planning and Experiential Education) and OIDEO
- Date and Time: Friday, October 5, 10 am-2 pm
- Location: Thwing Center Ballroom, 11111 Euclid Avenue
Professionals with Pride connects LGBTQIA+ students and inclusive employers with the goal of securing jobs and creating networks. This event is free open to anyone who supports the LGBTQIA+ community. For more information and to register, contact lgbt@case.edu.
A Conversation with Piper Kerman
Co-sponsored by River's Edge, YWCA Greater Cleveland, Ohio Transformation Fund, Ohioans to Stop Executions and Congregation of St. Joseph
- Date and Time: Saturday, October 6, 1-3 pm
- Location: Cleveland State University Waetjen Auditorium, 2121 Euclid Ave
Piper Kerman’s bestselling memoir Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison chronicles her “crucible experience”—the 13 months she spent in the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut after a brief involvement with drug trafficking. Since her release, Kerman has worked tirelessly to promote the cause of prison and criminal justice reform. Her work also raises provocative questions about the state of criminal justice in America, and how incarceration affects individuals and communities throughout the nation. A resource fair following the event will highlight reform work being done in Cleveland and how you can get involved in the movement. Register for the event online. Tickets: $30/General Admission - $10/Students.
Please note: there are a limited number of free tickets available through the SJI Office - e-mail socialjustice@case.edu for details.
Collective Punishment in the Occupied-Palestinian Territory
Social Justice Research Lunch Series
- Date and Time: Tuesday, October 9, 11:30 am-12:45 pm
- Location: Crawford Hall, Room A13, 10900 Euclid Avenue
SJI Research Fellow and law professor Avidan Cover will examine how the 50+ year Israeli occupation exerts social controls over the Palestinian population through mass arrests, administrative detentions, and denial of freedom of movement and penalties, all in violation of the law on occupation and prohibition on collective punishment. Bring a lunch; drinks and dessert provided. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
W.E.B. Du Bois at the Center: From Science, Civil Rights Movement, to Black Lives Matter
Sociology Colloquium, co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology, Department of History and the Office for Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity
- Date and Time: Monday, October 15, 1:30 pm
- Location: Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Community Studies Center, Room 108, 11402 Bellflower Road
Aldon Morris, the Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University, will discuss the work of W.E.B. DuBois in relation to recent and current historical developments. His most recent book is The Scholar Denied: W.E.B. DuBois and the Birth of Modern Sociology. This event is free and open to the community. Light refreshments provided. Reservations requested by October 11.
The Quest for Environmental and Climate Justice: Why Race and Place Still Matter
Cosponsored by the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities (2018 Issa Lecture)
- Date and Time: Tuesday, October 16, 4:30-5:30 pm
- Location: Tinkham Veale University Center Ballroom, 11038 Bellflower Road
Climate change is the defining global environmental justice, human rights and public health issue of the twenty-first century. The most vulnerable populations will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks because of where they live, their limited income and economic means, and their lack of access to health care. Dr. Robert D. Bullard, considered the father of environmental justice, will focus primarily on the need for empowering vulnerable populations, identifying environmental justice and climate change “hot-spot” zones and designing fair, just and effective adaptation, mitigation, emergency management and community resilience and disaster recovery strategies. He will also discuss his book, The Wrong Complexion for Protection, which analyzes more than eight decades of government response to natural and human-made disasters, and offer strategies to dismantle institutional policies and practices that create, exacerbate and perpetuate inequality and vulnerability before and after disasters strike.
Free and open to the community. Registration requested.
Traditional Leadership from Mother Earth: Standing Rock and the Mni Wiconi Gathering
An Evening with Faith Spotted Eagle (Ihanktonwan Dakota)
Cosponsored by Native Cleveland with the Beamer-Schneider Professorship in Ethics
- Date and Time: Thursday, October 18, 6:30-8 pm
- Location: Tinkham Veale University Center Ballroom, 11038 Bellflower Road
The Social Justice Institute and Native Cleveland are honored to welcome Native American activist and environmentalist Faith Spotted Eagle, who provided Indigenous leadership during the gatherings at Standing Rock and protests against the North Dakota Access Pipeline. The Mni Wiconi (“water is life”) was an historic convergence of numerous American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, as well as supporters and onlookers. Spotted Eagle will share the story of the protest and explain how Traditional Knowledge and beliefs provide a profound and enduring framework for social justice. Free and open to the community. A light reception will follow. Reservations requested.
Homeward: Life in the Year After Prison with Bruce Western
- Date and Time: Friday, October 26, 4:00-5:30 pm
- Location: Thwing Ballroom, 11111 Euclid Avenue
Bruce Western is Professor of Sociology and co-director of the Justice Lab at Columbia University. His most recent book, Homeward: Life in the Year after Prison, examines the tumultuous first year after release from prison. Drawing from in-depth interviews with over one hundred individuals, Western describes the lives of the formerly incarcerated and demonstrates how poverty, racial inequality, and failures of social support trap many in a cycle of vulnerability despite their efforts to rejoin society.
Free and open to the community. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Never Leave Yourself: Gender, Education and Health in Belize
Social Justice Research Lunch Series
- Date and Time: Tuesday, November 6, 11:30 am-12:45 pm
- Location: Crawford Hall, Room A13, 10900 Euclid Avenue
Eileen Anderson-Fye of the School of Medicine will provide an analysis of a twenty-year study that followed the first high school educated cohort of women in Belize and discuss how they subsequently transformed their society. Bring a lunch; drinks and dessert provided. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Montaña de Luz: Transforming HIV/AIDS Care in Honduras
Co-sponsors TBA
- Date and Time: Friday, November 9, 12:45-2 pm
- Location: Tinkham Veale University Center, 11038 Bellflower Road
Montaña de Luz began as a hospice for children in Honduras, home to 60% of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Central America. Today, thanks to the availability of anti-retroviral medications and new treatment philosophies, the “mountain of light” is transforming from an orphanage to a family-based model of HIV care. By reducing barriers (health literacy, stigma, transportation and medical co-pays), children remain at home to live healthy, happy lives – at a fifth of the cost of a traditional orphanage system.
In addition, Montaña de Luz is committed to leading systemic changes in the community – reintegration and reunification of families, increasing adherence by impacted children and adults to medication regimens, and centering local voices to determine the organization’s future.
Join Morgan Brown, Executive Director of Montaña de Luz, and Keiffer Erdmann, a Youth Across Borders ambassador, to discuss this cutting-edge model for care transformation and to be inspired by their unique vision of health justice work. Learn more about opportunities for in-country research, assisting with the creation of best practice models, and volunteering at home and abroad.
This event is free and open to the community. A light lunch will be served. Registration is required to socialjustice@case.edu.
Followers in a Leaderless Movement: An Intersectional Analysis of the Occupy Wall Street Movement
Social Justice Research Lunch Series
- Date and Time: Tuesday, December 4, 11:30 am-12:45 pm
- Location: Crawford Hall, Room A13, 10900 Euclid Avenue
Even in contemporary "leaderless" social movements, leadership is an interactional, gendered, and intersectional process, shaped by follower feedback. Heather McKee Hurwitz, a full time lecturer in sociology, will analyze the Occupy Wall Street movement through this complex lens. Bring a lunch; drinks and dessert provided. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Prison Nation: Photographs and Discussion
- Date and Time: Thursday, December 6, 6-7:30 pm
- Location: Martin Luther King, Jr., Library, 1962 Stokes Blvd.
How can images tell the story of mass incarceration when the imprisoned don't have control over their own representation? This question is at the core of Prison Nation, a powerful exhibition curated by Aperture Magazine that addresses the unique role photography plays in creating a visual record of this crisis, using both historical pictures and contemporary digital work. Local returned citizens (individuals who were formerly incarcerated) will speak on a panel about their experiences and their response to the empathy, awareness and political action essential to creating systemic change. Free and open to the community. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
This is one of many events surrounding the exhibit - click here to see more community events.
THIRTY: Exploring Artistically the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Exhibit Opening and Reception
Co-sponsored by the Kelvin Smith Library
- Date and Time: Thursday, January 24, 4:30-6 pm
- Location: Kelvin Smith Library, 11055 Euclid Avenue
The students of Facing History New Tech High School (a Cleveland public school) worked with artist Jason Labovitz to create this powerful collection of digital compositions exploring the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The compelling images and texts investigate the juxtaposition of human and educational rights with physical visual manifestations of those rights. Timothy Webster, associate professor of law, will share the history of the Declaration, and both students and the artist will discuss the creation of the exhibit. A light reception will follow. Free and open to the community. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Draw the Circle Wide: Celebrating Transgender and Gender Expansive Students in Music Learning Environments
Social Justice Research Lunch Series
- Date and Time: Tuesday, January 29, 11:30 am-12:45 pm
- Location: Crawford Hall, Room A13, 10900 Euclid Avenue
A critical conversation about creating equal access to ethically and pedagogically sound education for trans and gender expansive students with Matthew Garrett, associate professor of music. Bring a lunch; drinks and dessert provided. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Social Justice Teach-In
Co-sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning and IRTF
- Date and Time: Saturday, February 9, 11:00 am-3:15 pm
- Location: Tinkham Veale University Center, 11038 Bellflower Road
Join hundreds of students and community members for a deep examination of justice work -locally, nationally and internationally. In addition to an inspiring keynote address, participants will choose individual workshops on diverse topics to attend.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
U.N. World Social Justice Day
Co-sponsored by the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence and the Kelvin Smith Library
- Date and Time: Wednesday, February 20, 6:30-8 pm
- Location: Kelvin Smith Library, 11055 Euclid Avenue
In conjunction with the powerful Thirty art exhibit, our annual event to commemorate the United Nations World Social Justice Day will feature a keynote address focused on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A light reception will follow.
The "Tiny Horrors" of Cultural Genocide: Indigenous Children in Residential and Boarding Schools, 1870-1970
Social Justice Research Lunch Series
- Date and Time: Tuesday, February 26, 11:30 am-12:45 pm
- Location: Crawford Hall, Room A13, 10900 Euclid Avenue
Susan Dominguez, SAGES teaching fellow, will discuss the century of North American federal policy that ripped children from families and inflicted tortuous cruelties for years at a time, creating conditions of PTSD and genetically embedded intergenerational trauma. Bring a lunch; drinks and dessert provided. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Embedded Activism: Changing Foster Care from the Inside Out for LGBTQ2S Youth
Social Justice Research Lunch Series
- Date and Time: Tuesday, March 26, 11:30 am-12:45 pm
- Location: Crawford Hall, Room A13, 10900 Euclid Avenue
Dana Prince (MSASS assistant professor) and Sonia Emerson (project coordinator of Affirm Me) lead a dialogue about opportunities, barriers and effective strategies for effecting social change for LGBTQ2S (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning Two-Spirit) youth within the public child welfare system. Bring your lunch; drinks and dessert provided. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
Mankiller: A Documentary and Discussion with Filmmaker Valerie Red-Horse Mohl
Co-sponsored with the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning, LGBT Center, Flora Stone Mather Center for Women, Ellipsis Institute for Women of Color in the Academy, Lake Erie Native American Council and YWCA Greater Cleveland
- Date and Time: Tuesday, March 26, 6-8:30 pm
- Location: Tinkham Veale University Center, 11038 Bellflower Rd.
Wilma Mankiller was an activist, feminist and Cherokee Chief, a woman who humbly defied the odds to fight injustice and give a voice to the voiceless. She overcame rampant sexism and personal challenges to emerge as the Cherokee Nation’s first female Principal Chief in 1985. Mankiller reminds audiences of the true meaning of servant leadership and serves as a wake up call to take action for positive change.
Director and producer Valerie Red-Horse Mohl (Cherokee) will speak following the screening, examining the legacy of Mankiller’s formidable life, discussing her work as the preeminent collaborator with American Indian tribal nations bringing Native stories to the screen, and contemplating the critical roles of women in leadership.
Free and open to the community; light refreshments will be served. Reservations requested.
I’m a pretty ordinary person given an opportunity to do extraordinary things in my life.
—Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Chief, 1985-1995
Using Photovoice to Capture Diverse Experiences of Cleveland's Opiod Crisis
Social Justice Research Lunch Series
- Date and Time: Tuesday, April 16, 11:30 am-12:45 pm
- Location: Crawford Hall, Room A13, 10900 Euclid Avenue
SJI Research Fellows Lee Hoffer (associate professor, anthropology) and Allison Schlosser present findings from a visual participatory action research project that combines media studies, interviewing and photography to give voice to people who use opioids. Bring your lunch; drinks and dessert provided. RSVP to socialjustice@case.edu.
About Our Events
The majority of our events are free of charge and open to the community. We cannot do this important work without you – we hope that you will consider supporting us in these endeavors. Gifts of any size will impact our work and support our signature programs. Donations may be made online or sent to Social Justice Institute, 10900 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106-7243.
To RSVP or volunteer for any upcoming event, please call 216.368.7568 or email socialjustice@case.edu.