Author Christina López to speak at Saint Martin’s upcoming
Harvie Social Justice Lecture
Jan. 15, 2013
LACEY, WASHINGTON — Christina López, author of the pamphlet Estamos
en la Lucha: Immigrant Women Light the Fires of Resistance, will
illuminate migrant women’s fighting spirit and their unique view of
the crucial, but often ignored, leadership they provide in the U.S.
workforce and society. López’s lecture, which promises to engage the
Saint Martin’s community in a discussion exploring new strategies
for creating solidarity among immigrants and U.S. residents of all
races, is the next event in the 2012-13 Robert A. Harvie Social
Justice Lecture Series. The lecture will take place at 4 p.m.,
Friday, Feb. 8, in Harned Hall, room 110, on the Saint Martin’s
University campus, 5000 Abbey Way SE. The free event, followed by a
social hour with the author, is open to the public.
López, an Arizona native, comes from a working-class family whose
roots in the southwest predate U.S. borders. She was first
introduced to political activism when she joined the Chicano student
organization MEChA to fight against an Arizona English-only law.
Since moving to Seattle 14 years ago, López has fought for racial
liberation and women’s rights as essential components of building
class solidarity. On the national steering committee of Radical
Women and president of the Seattle chapter, López has mobilized
across the country to protect immigrant rights, quality education
and affirmative action. A co-founder of Sisters Organize for
Survival, she is an outspoken advocate for those most affected by
social service and education cutbacks. López was also the
vice-presidential candidate on the Freedom Socialist Party’s 2012
presidential ticket.
The Robert A. Harvie Social Justice Lecture Series, now in its
seventh year, was created by Saint Martin’s University Associate
Professor of Criminal Justice Robert Hauhart, Ph.D., J.D., chair of
the University’s Department of Society and Social Justice, to raise
awareness of social justice issues within the community and to honor
the work of Robert A. Harvie, J.D., former professor and chair of
the Department of Criminal Justice at Saint Martin’s.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year,
coeducational university located on a wooded campus of more than 300
acres in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic
Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 14 Benedictine
colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the
only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University
prepares students for successful lives through its 23 majors and
seven graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business,
education, nursing and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes more
than 1,100 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students from
many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its Lacey campus, and 300
more undergraduate students to its extension campuses located at
Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Centralia College. Visit the Saint
Martin’s University website at www.stmartin.edu.
For additional information:
Shawn Newman
College of Arts and Sciences
360-886-2322
snewman@stmartin.edu
Sarah Holdener
Director of event services
Saint Martin’s University
360-412-6140
sholdener@stmartin.edu