The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Equity & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series is a key feature of the Equity & Justice Institute.
The series helps stimulate dialogue among students, educators and community leaders committed to tackling the problems of racism, poverty, war, environmental degradation, educational inequities, religious persecution, genocide and other forms of injustice. Nationally and internationally recognized thought leaders are invited to campus each year to present a talk on a specific topic related to equity and justice, not only to the Crossroads community, but to the public at large. Speakers are sought from a variety of local and national organizations.
Each presentation is not an isolated event, but a key component of other Institute programs and activities focused on helping to find solutions to the equity and justice problem addressed by the speaker.
Each year as part of the lecture series, Crossroads invites a guest speaker or screens a film that specifically enhances our existing curriculum on the Holocaust and other forms of genocide and/or religious oppression. These lectures are free and open to the public, free of charge, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Nazarian family.
The series is an initiative of the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation, which supports educational causes in a broad spectrum of institutions and through a wide variety of avenues: academic, public policy, community-based, social and artistic programs in the United States and Israel.
These events are free and open to the public. Ifyou are not a member of the Crossroads community and you wouldlike to be notified of upcoming Speaker Series events, pleaseclick here.
Emiliana Guereca is an activist, feminist, entrepreneur and the co-executive director of Women’s March Foundation, which she founded in 2016. She has been the driving force behind the four official Women’s Marches in Los Angeles. Guereca devotes much of her time to advocacy programs for women’s rights, Latino education and gender equality and has served as the bridge between community organizations and coalition building that spans national levels. Guereca’s most recent endeavor includes launching Women’s March Action, the political arm of Women’s March. Personally, Guereca is proud to serve her Latin community and has also built roots in the Jewish community, as she raises her family in the Jewish faith. Guereca has been awarded the National Women’s Political Caucus’ Women of Courage Award in 2019, California’s Pioneer Women of 2017 Award, the HOPE Latina of the Year Award in 2017, LA County’s Pioneer Women of 2018, the Pat Brown Institute’s Civic Engagement Award in 2018 and SCLC’s Rosa Parks Award in 2019.
In the spring of 2018, four acclaimed speakers visited Crossroads for a series of talks presented in partnership with the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School. Recovered Voices encourages greater awareness and more frequent performances of music by composers whose careers and lives were disrupted—or worse—during the years of the Nazi regime in Europe.