Social Justice Summit to feature speaker who helped ignite Time’s Up movement

Cal State San Bernardino’s annual Social Justice Summit, hosted by the Office of Student Engagement, will feature Mónica Ramírez, who helped ignite Time’s Up, a movement against sexual harassment in the workplace.
 
With the theme “Vision 2020: Through a Local Lens,” the event will take place Friday, Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (check-in begins at 9 a.m.) in the Santos Manuel Student Union Events Center.
 
Ramírez is an activist, author, civil rights attorney, social entrepreneur and speaker, who helped spark the Time’s Up movement through a “Dear Sisters” letter published in Time Magazine.
 
When Ramírez was board president of the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (the National Farmworker Women’s Alliance), which she co-founded, she wrote a letter on behalf of Alianza members to lend support and solidarity to the women and men in Hollywood who came forward with their experiences of sexual harassment and assault in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The letter went viral and helped spark Time’s Up, in which Ramírez remains an active member. In 2018, Ramírez attended the 75th Golden Globe Awards as a guest of Laura Dern.
 
“We write on behalf of the approximately 700,000 women who work in the agricultural fields and packing sheds across the United States,” the letter says. “For the past several weeks we have watched and listened with sadness as we have learned of the actors, models and other individuals who have come forward to speak out about the gender-based violence they’ve experienced at the hands of bosses, coworkers and other powerful people in the entertainment industry. We wish that we could say we’re shocked to learn that this is such a pervasive problem in your industry. Sadly, we’re not surprised because it’s a reality we know far too well.”
 
During her talk, Ramírez will discusses strategies for fighting gender-based sexual harassment and achieving gender equity across industries.
 
In addition to the keynote speaker, the summit will feature interactive breakout sessions and engaging activities to help attendees learn more about social justice issues, develop an understating of social justice when it comes to civic engagement, and how to have these conversations with others. 
 
Register for the 2020 Social Justice Summit through Coyote Connection or by visiting the Social Justice Summit 2020 registration web page. The summit is open to all CSUSB students, faculty and staff.
 
For questions or more information, contact the Office of Student Engagement at oseinfo@csusb.edu.