Estela Mara Bensimon, a national expert on methods to improve equity in higher education, spoke at CSUN during the fifth annual Terry Piper Lecture. Photo by Lee Choo.

Estela Mara Bensimon, a national expert on methods to improve equity in higher education, encouraged campus leaders at California State University, Northridge to “deconstruct” the institutional structures that prevent college campuses from making “race talk” a routine practice.

Bensimon, a distinguished professor of higher education at the USC Rossier School of Education and co-director of the Center for Urban Education, which she founded in 1999, spoke April 5 during the fifth-annual Terry Piper Lecture in the University Student Union’s Northridge Center. She said talking about race helps campuses engage in a process of self-reflection regarding race, equity and student success.

“We need to look at institutional structure, culture, practices and routines,” Bensimon said. She said institutions of higher education must take responsibility and examine everything from the language used to discuss and describe race and ethnicity to the data and diversity of the faculty teaching today’s students.

She said the use of ambiguous language such as URM (underrepresented minorities), at-risk, minority and highest-performing demographic can be insulting and get in the way of productive conversations about race. She also urged attendees to avoid terms such as Caucasian and European American.

“It’s another way of sweeping race under the rug,” Bensimon said. “Labels can be stigmatizing.”

The event is named in honor of Terry Piper, who served as vice president of student affairs at CSUN for nearly 10 years. He strove to actively partner with campus colleagues in support of student success, as a member of the university’s executive leadership team. He is credited with reshaping CSUN’s Division of Student Affairs to align with the most current thinking and practices supporting student learning and success. Piper passed away in May 2010 after a courageous battle with melanoma.

“This lecture series was conceived for the purpose of gathering together faculty, staff and administrators from all areas of the campus to acknowledge and promote our work together and reaffirm our mutual and interconnected responsibility for supporting student learning and success,” said William Watkins ’74 (Urban Studies), CSUN’s vice president of student affairs and dean of students, to the audience.

He said this lecture is a fitting tribute to not only Piper but to José Luis Vargas ’74 (Sociology), M.A. ’75 (Educational Psychology and Counseling), the longtime director of CSUN’s Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP) who passed away on March 19 after a brief illness.

Watkins asked the audience to stand and join him in a handclap of recognition for the two departed leaders.

Yi Li, CSUN provost and vice president for academic affairs, said the lecture serves to “build bridges.”

Bensimon, who developed the Equity Scorecard, a process for using inquiry to drive changes in institutional practice and culture, said universities have to look at structural racism.

“Many of our institutions of higher education were created at a time with different values,” Bensimon said. “Even though the demographics have changed, the same structures continue.”

As an example, Bensimon compared the racial and ethnic makeup of CSUN’s faculty to its student population.

In 2015, 66.3 percent of CSUN’s tenured and tenure-track faculty were white; 12.4 percent Asian; 9.5 percent Latina/o; 4.7 percent African-American; and 0.9 percent American Indian. However, 44.2 percent of CSUN’s students are Latina/o; 24 percent white; 11.5 percent Asian; 5 percent African-American; and 0.2 percent American Indian.

“We find ourselves in a perfect storm,” Bensimon said. She said today’s faculty is “unprepared for the students we have today.”

The CHIME Institute’s Schwarzenegger Community School has been named a 2016 Hart Vision Charter School of the Year by the California Charter Schools Association. This is the second time CHIME has received this honor.

Association officials made the announcement last month at its annual conference in Long Beach. In making the announcement, the officials noted that CHIME “operates on the credo that everyone can learn in the same classroom at the same time.”

“The innovation of CHIME’s approach has been replicated in hundreds of charter schools across the state with great special education programs that serve thousands of students,” they said. “The school serves as a model for educators through its partnership with [California State University, Northridge’s] Michael D. Eisner College of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District.”

Erin Studer, CHIME’s executive director of charter school programs, said the school’s teachers and staff were humbled by the recognition.

“It is such a tremendous honor for CHIME to receive this award,” he said. “It is a testament to the hard work of our teachers, staff and students to create a model school where all students can thrive. Our ability to bring together a community of families, as well as partner with CSUN, to provide a high-quality national model of inclusive education and teacher training makes CHIME an incredibly special place.”

The CHIME Institute’s K-8 school has been named a 2016 Charter School of the Year by the California Charter Schools Association. This is the second time CHIME has received this honor. Photo by Lee Choo.

Located in Woodland Hills, the school serves approximately 740 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. CHIME’s research-based educational approaches also provide a learning environment for student-teachers, fieldwork students and educators from around the world who visit the school to learn more about its innovative, inclusive environment.

This is the second time the California Charter Schools Association has named CHIME a California Charter School of the Year. The first time was in 2005.

Michael Spagna, dean of CSUN’s Eisner College, said CHIME “rightfully deserves to be called Charter School of the Year.”

“We continue to be exceptionally proud of our association and collaboration with CHIME,” Spagna said. “It truly has become a beacon nationwide, in terms of inclusive education. It is nice to see that a true model of what a charter school should be is receiving recognition. CHIME is truly an incubator of change, and I encourage educators across the country to visit CHIME, learn about how it does what it does and apply what they learn in their own schools.”

Established in 1990, the CHIME Institute is a national leader in developing and implementing model educational programs and dynamic research and training environments to disseminate best practices in inclusive education. The institute’s research and training center is housed in the Eisner College.

The institute began with an early childhood education program housed on the CSUN campus. The success of that program, coupled with the needs of the community and sound research, prompted a group of parents and CSUN faculty to develop a public charter elementary school in 2001 and a public charter middle school in 2003. The two schools merged into a K-8 school in 2010.

Inclusive education at CHIME means that children who reflect the demographics of the surrounding regions learn side by side. CHIME’s model allows for the individual needs of each child to be addressed in a manner that enhances each child’s strength, while also providing educational progress.

CHIME also serves as a model for educators through its partnerships with the Eisner College and the Los Angeles Unified School District. It facilitates research opportunities and regularly hosts visitors from around the United States and the world who are interested in replicating its successes in their own schools. The institute has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a model for full inclusion of students with disabilities and for providing a blueprint for local schools across the country.

In addition to being named a California Charter School of the Year twice, CHIME also was given a Grazer Outstanding Achievement Award in Learning by the state’s Department of Education in 2013.

For more information about the CHIME Institute, call (818) 677-4979 or (818) 346-5200, or visit its website at www.chimeinstitute.org.

California State University, Northridge is home to the one of the largest, most developed and oldest Asian American studies departments in the United States.

Established in 1990, CSUN’s Department of Asian American Studies has graduated a generation of scholars, community activists, business leaders, artists and teachers imbued with a critical understanding of race, ethnic history and issues affecting Asian Americans.

On Saturday, April 23, the department’s students, alumni, faculty and founders will come together to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The Asian American Studies 25th Anniversary and Annual Student Awards Celebration and fundraiser will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Grand Salon in the University Student Union on the east side of the campus, located at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge. 

Speakers will include former CSUN Vice President for Academic Affairs Bob Suzuki, former department Chair Enrique de la Cruz, alumnus Gary Mayeda, current President’s Associate and CSUN Educational Opportunity Programs Academic Liaison Glenn Omatsu, current department Chair Gina Masequesmay and professors George Uba and Laura Uba, who taught some of the first Asian American studies courses in the program.

The department was established after students and faculty authored a position paper on the need for Asian American studies and organized a successful Asian Pacific American Cultural Awareness Week in 1989 to demonstrate there was a campus interest in learning about Asian-Americans.

Suzuki, who served as vice president for academic affairs from 1985 to 1991, said he supported the creation of the department based on his experience teaching Asian American studies at the University of Massachusetts.

“It was the first time [my students] realized Asian-Americans played a very important role in this country,” Suzuki said. “It was almost scary, because for the first time they began to realize they were just as American as any other student at that university. That’s why I supported the effort [to establish Asian American studies at CSUN].”

Kenyon Chan, who served as the department’s founding chair from 1990 to 1997 and recently retired as the chancellor of the University of Washington Bothell, said he and faculty quickly worked to develop a major and minor, and put Asian American studies courses on the CSUN map.

“We fought hard to make sure the AAS curriculum became a central part of the CSUN curriculum, including part of every category of general education,” Chan said. “We also demonstrated how vital it is for students to understand the historical and contemporary impact of Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the United States and learn an alternative theoretical view of the world.”

De la Cruz, who served as chair from 2000 to 2003, said there were only two full-time and two part-time faculty in the department when he started.

“It was a juggling and balancing act to be able to offer the full complement of courses that would enable our majors to graduate on time,” de la Cruz said. “During my tenure, we developed ethnic subgroup experience courses, research methods and Asian-Americans and the Law as an upper division general education class. We streamlined the courses to really develop the major.”

He said that having Asian American studies is vital to maintaining a fair account of American history and to keep Asian-Americans relevant in historical dialogue.

“Even today, there is a continuing struggle to ensure that minority communities, in particular Asian-Americans, are acknowledged for their roles in building American society,” de la Cruz said. “If we are not in the curriculum, it’s like we don’t exist.”

Suzuki understands from personal experience what it is like to have his history as an Asian-American kept off the books and out of public discourse. He was just 6 years old when he and his family were interned along with more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II.

While an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, Suzuki took a speech course and decided to write a speech about his education in the internment camp.

“I started doing research on it and the more I read about the internment, the angrier I got — what a gross injustice it was,” Suzuki said. “When I gave the speech to the class, it was pretty hard hitting. After I was finished, the teaching assistant asked the class if they had any questions, and I was received with shocked silence. He then asked them if they knew this had even happened. Only one student in the class said he knew, but it was another Japanese-American who had spent time in the camp himself.

“That was 1955. It blew my mind that in this society, even those whose friends were taken away in the camps could be ignorant of the internment. I think that experience was a major factor influencing my interest in and support for Asian American Studies.”

Omatsu said teaching students about the kinds of experiences of Asian-Americans like Suzuki is crucial to understanding the present and preventing injustice.

“At this particular time, with all the attacks coming down on immigrants and on Muslim-Americans especially, we need to understand that most of these attacks are not new,” Omatsu said. “Anyone who takes a basic Asian American studies course learns about the Chinese Exclusion Act, the 1924 immigration act excluding Asian-American immigration, and the Japanese internment. When Donald Trump comes down saying he wants to temporarily ban all Muslims from coming into the United States, people should know that’s been done before to the Chinese and Asian-Americans and that it’s wrong, but not a lot of people do. When politicians call for patrols of Muslim areas or want Muslims to inform other Muslims of their activities, we need to remember all of those things happened to the Japanese-Americans.”

Masequesmay said Asian American studies is an empowering experience for many students.

“It provides more self-definition, and links you to a history of struggle and resistance — not just to Asian-Americans, but to other ethnic groups as well, those who have been historically disadvantaged,” Masequesmay said. “You see the struggles of peoples and it gives you a sense of connection and power.

“It’s an inspiring, wonderful feeling to know you are not alone in struggling for justice,” she continued. “It’s a wonderful feeling to be part of something larger than yourself. We must focus on that sense of inter-being to envision a society that benefits all of us and not just some of us, a justice that is restorative and not destructive.”

For more information on the 25th anniversary celebration and fundraiser, or to donate to the department, email gina.masequesmay@csun.edu or call the Department of Asian American Studies at (818) 677-4966.

California State University, Northridge biology professor MariaElena Zavala has been named the first Latina Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB).

The ASPB is a professional scientific society devoted to the advancement of the plant sciences worldwide. Zavala was named a Fellow in honor of her service to the society and her distinguished and long-term contributions to plant biology.

Zavala said she was surprised and honored to learn she had been named an ASPB Fellow.

“I didn’t even know that my name had been put forward,” she said. “I was at a meeting when I received the call. It is quite an honor.”

Zavala, who has been teaching at CSUN since 1988, is the first Mexican-American woman in the country to earn a Ph.D. in botany. Since coming to the campus, she has played an integral part in building the national reputation of CSUN’s Department of Biology’s as a place where students, particularly those from underserved communities, thrive and successfully pursue advanced degrees at top tier research institutions.

She has served as the director of CSUN’s Maximizing Access to Research Careers Undergrad Student Training and in Academic Research (MARC U-STAR) program since 1990 and Research Initiatives for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) since 1993. Her work as a mentor and advocate for countless students who have gone through these program earned her recognition from the White House. In 2000, Zavala received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from President Bill Clinton.

Zavala’s research focuses on the manipulation of genes as a way to improve plant productivity by enhancing root growth. She also is studying ways to make beans more nutritious.

“When we eat beans, we basically are eating special leaves, cotyledons (seed leaves) that store huge amounts of protein.” she said. “The most abundant of these proteins in beans have low amounts of an essential amino acid that humans need to eat.”

She and her students are working to increase that amino acid — that has sulfur — into the bean seed to improve the nutritional value of beans.

Zavala said plant research is critical in the effort to combat hunger around the world.

“There are more than 925 million people who are malnourished or undernourished in the world right now. That’s a huge number of people (about 1:7 worldwide), and the consequences are tremendous,” Zavala said. “Malnutrition disproportionately affects young children and older people leading to premature death. Infants and young children, who are malnourished often suffer life-long consequences including poor brain development and weak bones and short-term effects including susceptibility to infections because of a poor immune system.

“The world’s farmers grow enough food for every single person to eat the recommended 2,300 calories a day,” she continued. “People should not be starving. The problem is that food isn’t produced where it is consumed, the food distribution system is flawed and much food is lost to pests. The field of plant science has an important role in solving these problems.”

California State University, Northridge’s Department of Asian American Studies celebrated its landmark 25th anniversary with a rare gathering of the department’s founders, faculty, alumni, students, campus officials and community members on April 23 on campus in the Grand Salon at the University Student Union.

The 25th Anniversary and Student Awards event was a self-reflection of the quarter-century journey of the department’s struggles, successes and the deep commitment to its students, which remains to this day. It honored the department’s founders — former CSUN Vice President of Academic Affairs Bob Suzuki, faculty George Uba, Laura Uba and Warren Furumoto, former department chair Enrique de la Cruz, alumnus Gary Mayeda, and founders not in attendance, including former department chair Kenyon Chan, former faculty members Gordon Nakagawa, Michael Ego and Emily Lawsin. Asian American studies students as well as students from the CSUN Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) also were recognized for their outstanding achievements.

The evening began with student performances. CSUN’s Filipino American Student Association, the campus’ oldest Asian-American student group, performed a traditional Filipino dance called the Tinikling. Members of the Asian-American fraternity Alpha Psi Rho did a step performance and CSUN Asian American studies Alumna and poet Alina Nguyen recited an original piece titled Genealogy.

CSUN Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Yi Li welcomed the 200 attendees on behalf of the university. Li was a young international graduate student of mathematics when he emigrated to the United States, and talked about how as an Asian-American, he discovered the challenges and hardships impacting the Asian-American community while serving as Wright State University’s Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics. He cited the importance of supporting Asian-Americans’ access to higher education.

“Higher education attainment is not just an educational issue, it is actually a social justice issue,” Li said. “It is an issue of our children and our future generation — whether or not they have a good standard of living, whether or not they can achieve their dreams. Higher education is so important to the life of our future and we must, as a higher education [institution], help our community to achieve that goal.”

CSUN Dean of the College of Humanities Elizabeth Say, who earned her bachelor’s degree at the university, reflected on seeing the department grow.

“Watching the Asian American studies department develop has been one of the great joys of being part of this college,” Say said. “They have tremendous faculty, amazing students, and their staff are outstanding. I’ve never known a group of faculty who are more committed to their students than the faculty of Asian American Studies — we have ones who are just as committed, but not more committed.”

John Lee, chief of staff for Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch Englander and a CSUN alumnus, presented a proclamation by the city recognizing the historic achievement of the CSUN Department of Asian American Studies, which was the second in the nation to gain departmental status.

Former Vice President for Academic Affairs Suzuki, who taught Asian American studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst before coming to CSUN, highlighted the importance of the positive impact that Asian American studies has on student achievement. Suzuki — who was mentioned throughout the night by faculty and other founders as being the key figure who made the Asian American studies department possible by pushing for a department and not just a program — put the attention on the important work of the students and faculty who pressed for Asian Americans studies during the late 1980s.

“The idea of Asian American studies came about from students who felt they needed to take some courses in Asian American studies,” Suzuki said. “They worked with some of the few Asian-American faculty we had at that time [to draft a position paper] on why we needed Asian American studies.”

CSUN alumnus Mayeda, who was one of the student pioneers who worked on the position paper in the late 1980s, also spoke about what it was like to fight for an Asian American studies program during a time when Asian-American students faced much more hostility, discrimination and alienation from greater society. Mayeda helped form the Asian Pacific Student Association and organized an Asian-American cultural awareness week that helped bring visibility to Asian-Americans on campus. He said he admired the department today and the milestone it has reached.

“As a student I never would have dreamed it would be this big,” Mayeda said. “But you just know when something is good and you know something is there for you — not only for you, but for the community and greater Los Angeles. We just never realized it would be this impactful.”

After more founders spoke, the attention turned to the students who were also being rewarded for their excellence and contributions to the department. Dozens of students from EOP were given “Promising Freshman” awards, celebrating the strong connection between the department and EOP. Over a dozen Asian American studies majors and double majors received awards, such as the Promising Sophomore and Transfer Award, Community Builders Award, Promising Future Teacher Award, Donna Kawamoto Special Achievement Award, Laura Uba Academic Achievement Award, Enrique de la Cruz Social Justice Award and the Kenyon Chan Leadership Award.

In thanking the department, the students spoke about how crucial the department has been, not only to their academic success as students, but to their well-being, sense of self and world view.

Asian American studies major Cielito Fernandez, who won the Kenyon Chan Leadership Award for her positive influence among students, said the department helped her to realize who she is as an Asian-American and as a CSUN student.

“Asian American studies made me realize my potential as a student,” Fernandez said. “My capacity as a person has expanded and I believe in myself a lot more. Asian American studies is so important — if you don’t study it, you will forget about the hard work of previous generations. It can provide a road to self-actualization in this society, especially when as a person of color, you don’t physically fit into the larger narrative.”

Asian American studies major Lorenzo Mutia, who won the Enrique de la Cruz Social Justice Award, said Asian American studies gave him a sense of empowerment.

“What Asian American studies means to me is realizing the power that exists in the communities we live in,” Mutia said. “There are a lot of unheard stories in the mainstream. There are so many positive assets in our communities that aren’t heard about out there, that are kind of lying in secret, waiting to be used. A lot of times we are told that what we have to offer does not matter. Asian America Studies gives us an outlet to be utilized for the benefit of ourselves and others.”

Asian American studies alumni also spoke of their gratitude to the department for helping shape their identities and prepare them for their adult lives.

“Coming into my identity as an Asian-American person was based on learning about multiple histories and multiple experiences, of different trials and tribulations,” said alumnus Jean-Paul deGuzman, who teaches Asian American studies at University of California, Santa Barbara. “American American studies has a dual purpose — on the one hand it’s personal, it’s about situating our own identities and stories, and on a practical and a more political level, it helps students to think critically about the world around them, to deconstruct what they see in the media, in history books and in the news. Those tools are very powerful no matter what profession you move on to.”

Alumna Emi Vallega, who is currently coordinating Communications and Resource Development at Pilipino Workers Center as well as at the California Domestic Workers Coalition, said Asian American studies transformed her academic life and inspired her to work in community organizing.

“Walking into my first class with professor Laura Uba changed my life,” Vallega said. “Learning more about your own history — because you don’t get that in regular school — was important for me. You don’t hear about yourself and your family in mainstream history classes. Developing my own consciousness around my own familial issues and being able to discuss them was very powerful for me.”

Alumnus CJ Berina, who owns a store called Collective Lifestyle LA in Northridge and was just awarded a $15,000 grant from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office to do an arts activation campaign on Reseda Blvd. this summer, said he learned from Asian American studies that the most important thing in life is making the world a better place.

“One thing we are doing with our company is change the world in a positive way,” Berina said. “Everything that we do is for people. A lot of people start businesses to make a profit, but we started it for the people. We wanted to provide culture to the Valley, through fashion, music art and live events and fill a need [for arts] in the Valley. Life is all about the people around you, serving the people and not just yourself.”

Asian American studies professor Allan Aquino, who served as the master of ceremonies for the event, reflected the same sentiment back to the students with his own message of thanks.

“You, our students, are the heartbeat of our purpose,” Aquino said. “You will always be the source of our joy, our reason to get up each morning, our reason to embrace our calling as educators — this is a calling, not just a job. And I for one am proud to embrace all of you as comrades and as dear friends, and members of a community family. No matter what happens in the rest of our lives, our hearts are full of joy right here, right now, because all of you are here and we love you.”

Social media has become an indispensable medium of communication in modern society. Over the past 10 years, networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have evolved into platforms of free speech and digital activism. Numerous social movements such as Black Lives Matter, the Arab Spring and the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement have used social media to raise awareness and spark conversations to push for change.

The 25th annual Kenneth S. Devol First Amendment Forum, held on April 21, discussed the impact of social media on social change by examining the influences of hashtags and measuring the outcomes of social media conversations.

“We have opened a door to a whole new social space where we can make social change,” said First Amendment scholar and CSUN Assistant Professor of Journalism Elizabeth Blakey, who organized and moderated the forum.

“We can make social change by networking on the internet,” Blakey said, mentioning that — unlike the mainstream media — no gatekeepers filter information on digital media.

Guest speaker April Reign, the creator of #OscarsSoWhite, talked about her experience initiating a social movement that criticized the lack of diversity in the entertainment and film industry.

“Because of social media, the information and the hashtag can travel around the world,” she said. “Hashtags are incredibly pervasive in society. Even if you’re not on Twitter, you see them used all the time.”

Reign coined the hashtag in response to the 2015 Academy Awards nominations, which lacked ethnic diversity. Though she had no intention to start a movement, #OscarsSoWhite gained great popularity and was a trending hashtag during the 2015 and 2016 Academy Award Shows.

“As the conversation grew, people from literally around the world started to pay attention to this issue,” she said. “We started to have very serious discussions about representation and the lack of inclusion of marginalized communities.”

Reign received interview requests from countries around the world and spoke globally about the issues of lacking representation. People interested in the Academy Awards learned about the racial prejudices of the American entertainment industry, but also spread conversations about the lack of representation in the entertainment industry in their own countries, said Reign.

CSUN graduate student in mass communication David Stamps talked about the importance of social media conversation. The creator of #WeMatterPoject started the hashtag in response to the prominent #BlackLivesMatter to increase the conversation about equality and justice.

“When you lack one-on-one interaction [with marginalized communities], entertainment media brings out stereotypes and biases that you start to hold as true — that’s a problem,” Stamps said. “When we come together collectively, we can change the narrative. We can push forward and see some change happen.”

International hashtags such as #WomenToDrive in Saudi Arabia or #UmbrellaRevolution against police brutality in China have increased public attention toward issues and pressured stakeholders for change.

“You can help to make change using your thumbs and your iPhone,” Reign said.

“Where mainstream media has failed us, digital media has given us an opportunity to raise our voice and bring us back to the First Amendment free speech,” Stamps added. “Digital Media allows us this platform for our voice to be heard and for us to control our narrative.”

California State University, Northridge experts in climate change and political science will be featured in The Cross of the Moment — a documentary about climate change by Jacob Freydont-Attie — at the International Film Festival from April 28 to May 1 at the NoHo Arts Center Theatre in North Hollywood.

CSUN professor David Klein, head of CSUN’s climate science program, and Roger Carasso, professor emeritus in political science and a CSUN alumnus, were interviewed for the documentary.

“Roger is an acquaintance of my father’s and I’ve been on his political email list for some time,” said documentarist Freydont-Attie. “I have admired his strong socialist values and deep knowledge of classical political theory.”

Both professors contributed their knowledge about the fields of their expertise to the documentary and answered philosophical questions about climate change, existence, and political and economic systems.

“David was recommended to me by a mutual acquaintance who is very active in climate change circles,” he added. “When I saw that he bridged the science and politics gap, with an interest in eco-socialism, I figured he would also be perfect for the film.”

Klein, who published the book Capitalism & Climate Change: The Science and Politics of Global Warming, said the main challenge for him was to explain the issues as simply as possible due to the complexity of the entire topic.

“We definitely need more education, especially in the United States,” Klein said. “There’s been a concerted propaganda campaign to deny the existence of global warming. People should watch this film because of the imminence of the climate catastrophe — the steps that have to be taken to avert it require a huge amount of cooperation among people.”

Freydont-Attie said he was passionate about creating a documentary that addresses climate change and the fate of civilization in not only a scientific, but also a philosophical way.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced,” Freydont-Attie said. “We risk the collapse of civilization, or worse, if we don’t start addressing the deep structural problems of capitalism immediately.”

The director said he appreciates the broad availability of low-cost, high-quality video equipment and editing software in the digital age. He encourages students and young filmmakers to use available tools that are particularly suitable for documentary filmmaking. Visitors of the upcoming International Film Festival can get a peek into the use of such tools.

“I haven’t seen the film with a full-house audience yet,” he said. “I hope some CSUN students come out and see what can be done with [digital] tools.”

For more information on the International Film Festival North Hollywood visit http://iffnoho.com/ or purchase tickets under https://www.squadup.com/events/international-film-festival-north-hollywood/checkout.

California State University, Northridge physical therapy students who were recipients of scholarships from a partnership between the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and the Roy and Roxie Campanella Foundation gave a helping hand on April 20 to middle school students at Elysian Park in the shadow of Dodger Stadium. And then on April 27, the CSUN students were recognized on the field at Dodger Stadium in a pregame ceremony.

“The Dodgers have really extended a hand of friendship to CSUN by continuing to fund these students.” said Aimie Kachingwe, CSUN physical therapy professor and physical therapy consultant for CSUN athletics.

The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF) partners with the Campanella Foundation to administer the scholarship to CSUN physical therapy students. The scholarship is named in honor of Roy Campanella, the Hall of Fame catcher who was paralyzed in 1958 but through physical therapy was able to regained enough mobility so that he could work in community relations for the organization and be a Spring Training instructor. Since 2005, the Campanella and Los Angeles Dodgers foundations have awarded scholarships to CSUN physical therapy students.

“To see these kids who are part of this physical therapy program (and) to reward them with some funds to help support them in their program is just great for both organizations,” said David Brennan, senior director of programs and fundraising for the LADF.

CSUN physical therapy students/Campanella scholars lined up on the first-base line at Dodger Stadium on April 27 and received recognition before the game. One student in particular found the experience to be not only rewarding, but very personal.

Graduating physical therapy student Joshua Hawkins grew up in the shadows of Dodger Stadium in Eagle Rock. He played baseball growing up and was a catcher – like Campanella.

“For me it’s a tremendous privilege,” Hawkins said. “There’s a personal significance as well as professional significance.”

Joni Campanella-Roan, daughter of Roy Campanella, was present and could feel all the pride her parents would have felt in the recognition of these students.

“My parents would be so excited just to know that (CSUN is) producing so many qualified physical therapy students to get out there in the world and doing something that they thought was so meaningful and important to them,” Campanella-Roan said.

A week before, on April 20, the same physical therapy students were doing something meaningful for Los Angeles-area students. They gave back to the Dodgers Foundation by creating an exercise program for an after-school program called Learning Enrichment After-School Program (LEAP).

Kachingwe challenged the students to create a program most applicable to children, something that would excite them and relate to their daily lives. The children were able to learn different types of exercises and health-related education through station-to-station activities that rotated every couple minutes.

“The realization of what you can do and the difference you can make has a big impact,” Kachingwe said. “It drives them to what they want to do.”

For the CSUN physical therapy students, the opportunity to learn a certain skill set, apply it to a program and see results from children was gratifying.

“The most rewarding part of the event was seeing the translation of our hard work and planning being translated into smiles and enjoyment, ” Hawkins said.

California State University, Northridge’s Department of Police Services invited students, faculty and staff to Beat the Quake on April 28 at the Bayramian Lawn.

The event featured campus and community resources for emergency preparedness and provided tips and information on how to respond during an earthquake.

The highlight of the event was the puzzle room, an earthquake-themed escape room adventure in which student teams of four solved puzzles in a short period of time to prepare for an earthquake.

“It was really fun,” said Tiffany Nguyen, a freshman biology major. “We live in California, so we’re prone to many earthquakes. It’s important to be prepared and be aware.”

Top-scoring teams earned prizes such as DVDs, gift packs, Matador spirit items or MataMoney gift cards. The grand prize was a gift certificate for the Amazing Escape Room.

In addition to the resource tables and the puzzle room, CSUN geology students presented posters that displayed historical earthquakes and talked about earthquake preparedness, which many students said they found informative.

“There are a lot of foreign exchange students who come to CSUN from all over the world,” said Brandon Cu, a freshman in communication studies. “They might not know that we have a lot of faults in California, so they should know how to be prepared to stay safe.”

California State University, Northridge hosted students and faculty from seven other California State Universities for the PUMP Research Symposium on April 23 in Live Oak Hall. Preparing Undergraduates through Mentoring toward Ph.D.s (PUMP) is an initiative founded by the National Science Foundation and hosted by CSUN’s Department of Mathematics to motivate mathematics students to enter Ph.D. programs.

The initiative has expanded to other California State Universities and high schools throughout Southern California, and it was recently honored with an award for an exemplary program or achievement in a mathematics department by the American Mathematical Society.

One of PUMP’s key elements is the undergraduate research project, in which teams of two math students research complex mathematical topics and present them at the PUMP symposium. Each team is supervised by an advisor who helps mentor the team through the process.

“It was fun and a very beneficial experience,” said Diana Contreras, a junior and participant on one of the CSUN teams.

“We appreciate the opportunity to do it,” added her team partner, senior Kevin Manley.

Contreras and Manley researched and examined predictors for student success in college and presented a statistical approach that investigated the achievement gap between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

“Our supervisor, Dr. [Bruce E.] Shapiro, was already looking into it and when we approached him about the topic, he mentioned it,” Contreras said. “It was fun to figure out what the GPA cutoffs were in order to predict [graduation likelihood].”

The second CSUN team researched the Collatz problem, a prominent mathematical conjecture that investigates iterations of integers. Melida Paz and Miriam Ramirez, both math seniors, were advised by CSUN mathematics professor Werner Horn.

“I loved the open-endedness of it and that there is always more to find,” Paz said. “There is never an end to anything. You can spend as much time as you like and just immerse in mathematics.”

Paz and Ramirez discovered the Collatz problem in a book while researching their topic for the project. One year later, they resolved the conjecture for one specific case, which is a groundbreaking achievement for the two undergraduate students.

“We’re hoping to publish in a journal and get our results out there,” Ramirez said. “Knowing that your name might be out there somewhere and getting [credit] for what you have done is really rewarding.”

All 24 participating CSU students balanced their classes and research for an entire academic year, which many said was one of the program’s main challenges.

“It felt like I was a juggler,” Paz said. “I took five classes and did the research. It was pretty intense, but I enjoyed it a lot.”

California State University. Northridge’s Department of Theater and its acclaimed Teenage Drama Workshop (TADW) will celebrate their 60th anniversary next week with a party to mark the accomplishments of their alumni, as well as celebrate the possibilities the future holds for both programs.

The celebration is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11, in the Campus Theatre, located in Nordhoff Hall near the southwest corner of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

“Sixty years is a long time, and a lot of students,” said Garry Lennon, former chair of CSUN’s Department of Theatre and currently special assistant to the dean of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication. “We figure that in the department alone, we’ve done more than 600 productions over that time, and that doesn’t even factor in TADW. If you add its productions, then we’re probably well past 800, not counting the ones the students put on themselves or specials events. That’s a lot of theater that has touched a lot of lives, both on campus — in terms of our students, faculty and staff—and off, when you think of the hundreds and hundreds of members of the community who have come to our productions.

“It’s kind of amazing,” Lennon continued. “But when you think about it, it demonstrates the rich tradition that theater and education have in the San Fernando Valley. In many ways, theater is the foundation of education — story telling, passing on information and sharing information. That’s what we do in the arts.”

A scene from Teenage Drama Workshop’s 2014 performance of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr.” Photo courtesy of Teenage Drama Workshop.

The theater program of what is now known as California State University, Northridge, started as part of the satellite campus of what was then Los Angeles State College (now Cal State L.A.) in 1956. A year later, as a way to foster a relationship between the community and the campus and to enrich the social and cultural life of the area, the department opened Teenage Drama Workshop to offer teenagers in grades seven to 12 a conservatory theater experience that included voice, acting and dance classes, as well as professiona-quality stage productions.

When San Fernando Valley State College officially opened in 1958, the two theater programs already laid the foundation for the institution’s ties to the community. TADW, now a summer program, is considered to be one of the oldest drama programs for teenagers in the United States.

“It’s exciting to see the aspirations of the young people who come through TADW over the years, and then see many of them enroll here at CSUN in our theater, music and other programs,” said theater professor Doug Kaback, TADW’s director. “It’s inspiring to see them become part of the creative community — not just in theater, but in all areas of the arts.”

TADW’s alumni include actresses Mare Winningham, Elizabeth McGovern and Robert Englund, who went on to graduate from CSUN’s theatre department. Recent TADW alumnus Daniel Stewart just finished a run in the Tony-nominated Broadway revival of “Spring Awakening.”

In addition to Englund, the theater department’s alumni include acclaimed film director Donald Petrie and actresses Lillian Lehman, Eve Plumb and Teri Garr.

“Our alumni work in all aspects of the business, whether they are on stage and in front of the camera or behind the scenes directing, designing the sets and costumes, working as technicians or in the front office,” said Ah-jeong Kim, acting chair of the Department of Theater. “Our alumni are everywhere.”

Lennon said he hopes to see many of the alumni next week at the anniversary celebration.

“It’s the perfect opportunity to reflect on all the things we as a department and our alumni have accomplished over the years, and to consider what the future holds, and where theater should be in 20 years and the role CSUN will play in that,” he said.

For more information about the 60^th anniversary celebration, call (818) 677-3086.

CSUN manufacturing systems engineering professor Shereazad Jimmy Gandhi and his students work on the efficiency of New Horizons’ manufacturing systems. Photo courtesy of Roschell Ashley.

This spring, students in professor Shereazad Jimmy Gandhi’s manufacturing systems engineering class MSE507 benefitted from a special partnership between the nonprofit organization New Horizons and California State University, Northridge’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.

New Horizons is a local organization that helps people with special needs and disabilities to acquire significant skills for different work environments. The organization provides vocational training, work placements and supportive housing. New Horizons reached out to CSUN for help implementing lean manufacturing practices and processes within the organization, which supports the training of people who aim to work in manufacturing and assembly processes.

“As a nonprofit, we are always challenged with finding resources to assist us to remain innovative and grow our services, in order to fulfill our mission of empowering individuals with special needs to fulfill their dreams,” said Roschell Ashley, chief operating officer at New Horizons.

Over the years, New Horizons has developed partnerships with several departments and colleges at CSUN, such as the Department of Social Work, the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics and the College of Health and Human Development. After collaborating with the College of Engineering and Computer Science in spring 2014, when CSUN students worked to improve New Horizons’ warehouse and production operations, the organization turned to CSUN again.

“We were so impressed with the level of sophistication and recommendations from the students that we reached out to CSUN again to provide an opportunity for students to work on other sub-divisions,” Ashley said. “It was without hesitation that we turned to CSUN — a university with great expertise in business and teaching lean principles in manufacturing — to assist us to rebuild this division.”

Gandhi’s service-learning class is targeted at undergraduate seniors and graduate students in the Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department. The course is only an elective, but it is one of the most popular classes because of its hands-on opportunities, said Gandhi.

“The collaborative project is very well organized and developed under the leadership and guidance of professor Gandhi,” Ashley said. “The students display a high level of professionalism and are eager to assess and provide recommendations for challenges that can make or break your business.”

According to the professor, the hands-on approach to real-world issues helps students develop better problem-solving skills and builds an understanding of lean manufacturing implementations. Students identify current processes and evaluate them to understand constraints and make recommendations for improvement.

Esteban Estrada, New Horizons’ director of work services, talks to CSUN engineering students about manufacturing processes. Photo courtesy of Roschell Ashley.

“If recommendations are implemented, they can help [New Horizons] to have a better-flowing process, which can help them to reduce their costs,” Gandhi said. “We would love to help more nonprofits in the area to achieve similar efforts.”

Esteban Estrada, director of work services at New Horizons, said that two CSUN students who participated in the 2014 collaboration became volunteers with the organization. They worked on improving inventory processes in the warehouse and created a cleaner and more organized warehouse environment.

“CSUN is a great partner for New Horizons, a true win-win, positive community relationship,” said Erik Sjogren, New Horizons’ director of business services.

“The teams come equipped with the latest tools and knowledge of best practices,” Ashley added. “They display compassion and creativity while solving issues that involve a workforce of individuals with and without disabilities.”

Approximately 11,120 graduating students, a university record, are invited to walk across a stage in front of California State University, Northridge’s Delmar T. Oviatt Library to the cheers of family members and friends as CSUN celebrates its 2016 commencement in two weeks.

“Commencement is always an inspiring time at the university,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison. “Students and their families and friends gather with the campus community in what is a momentous and joyous occasion. This time of year provides us with the opportunity to pause and celebrate our students’ significant accomplishments, before they take the next steps toward their future and join the more than 300,000 alumni who have an elevating and lasting impact on the entire region.”

An estimated 8,836 bachelor’s, 2,228 master’s and 56 doctoral degree candidates are eligible to take part in exercises scheduled to begin the morning of Friday, May 20, with the university’s Honors Convocation and conclude the evening of Monday, May 23, with the last of CSUN’s seven 2016 commencement ceremonies. All eight celebrations will take place on the lawn in front of the Oviatt Library.

This year, for the first time, university officials use metal detectors to screen everyone entering the commencement venue as a way of maximizing safety at the events. To ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible, those attending the graduation exercises are asked to arrive at least 90 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony. Guests also are being asked to bring no more than one bag that can be easily searched. Wrapped gifts are discouraged and are subject to being opened if they do not clear a metal detector.

CSUN’s commencement celebrations begin at 8 a.m. on May 20 with the Honors Convocation. This year’s speaker will be alumnus and entertainment industry executive Jim Berk.

From 2006 through 2015, Berk was chief executive officer of Participant Media, a global entertainment company founded in 2004 that focuses on socially relevant film, television, publishing and digital media. During Berk’s almost nine-year tenure at Participant, 67 films were greenlit, including “The Kite Runner,” “Waiting for Superman,” “The Help,” “Food, Inc.,” “Contagion,” “Lincoln,” “Citizenfour,” “Beasts of No Nation,” “He Named Me Malala,” “Bridge of Spies” and “Spotlight.”

A native of Los Angeles, Berk graduated from CSUN in 1981 with a degree in music and worked as a high school music teacher. His passion for the power of music to change students’ lives led him to found the Academy of Music at Hamilton High School. In 1990, he became the youngest principal in the history of the Los Angeles Unified School District when he assumed the helm of Hamilton High School.

In 1992, he became the founding executive of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Foundation. He later moved on to the private sector, where he led education, hospitality and media companies. In 2006, he combined his talents as a teacher, business leader and entertainment executive to join Participant Media.

In 2007, Berk was recognized with one of CSUN’s highest honors, a Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2011, he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the university.

CSUN’s first commencement ceremony — for graduates of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication — will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 20.

The second ceremony — for graduates of the Departments of Anthropology, Geography and Psychology in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the graduates of the Michael D. Eisner College of Education — will take place at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 21.

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, graduates in the remaining departments in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences — Africana studies, history, political science, public administration, social work, sociology, and urban studies and planning — will take part in CSUN’s third commencement ceremony.

CSUN’s fourth commencement ceremony — for graduates of the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics — will take place at 8 a.m. on Sunday, May 22. An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters will be bestowed on accounting industry leader Harvey Bookstein during the ceremony.

Bookstein is a CSUN alumnus known for his philanthropy, community leadership and achievements in the fields of finance, real estate and accounting. He is recognized as one of California’s most respected certified public accountants, as well as a leading authority in real estate, and estate and tax planning. Bookstein is currently a senior partner of the prestigious national CPA firm Armanino after merging his firm that he co-founded in 1975 — RBZ — last year.

At 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 22, the graduates of the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the College of Science and Mathematics will take part in CSUN’s fifth commencement ceremony.

Graduates in the Departments of Child and Adolescent Development, Health Sciences, Kinesiology, and Recreation and Tourism Management in the College of Health and Human Development will take part in the sixth commencement ceremony at 8 a.m. on Monday, May 23.

CSUN’s seventh and final commencement ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 23 for graduates of the College of Humanities and of the Departments of Communication Disorders and Sciences, Environmental and Occupational Health, and Family and Consumer Sciences in the College of Health and Human Development. An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters will be bestowed on acclaimed civil rights activist the Rev. James Lawson during the ceremony.

Lawson played a leading role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He trained volunteers in Gandhian tactics of nonviolent direct action. Lawson helped coordinate the Freedom Rides in 1961 and the Meredith March in 1966. While working as a pastor at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Memphis, he also played a major role in the sanitation workers strike of 1968. On the eve of his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. called Lawson “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.”

In 1974, Lawson moved to Los Angeles to be the pastor of Holman United Methodist Church. He has spoken out against racism, and challenged the Cold War and U.S. military involvement throughout the world. Even after his retirement, Lawson was protesting with the Janitors for Justice movement in Los Angeles, and with gay and lesbian Methodists in Cleveland.

For the past six years, Lawson has been affiliated with CSUN’s Civil Discourse & Social Change Initiative (CDSC) and has taught a course about nonviolent conflict social movements.

California State University, Northridge will confer honorary doctorates on acclaimed civil rights activist the Rev. James Lawson and accounting industry leader Harvey Bookstein during its commencement ceremonies this month.

Bookstein, a CSUN alumnus known for his philanthropy, community leadership and achievements in the fields of finance, real estate and accounting, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 22. Lawson, an internationally respected civil rights leader, advocate for social justice and CSUN faculty member, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the College of Humanities and College of Health and Human Development commencement ceremony on Monday, May 23.

“I am pleased to honor Rev. James Lawson and Harvey Bookstein for their significant contributions to CSUN — and the world,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison.

“Harvey Bookstein has spent a lifetime building a successful career, and his legacy at CSUN is felt by the students, faculty and staff who have benefited from his philanthropy, as well as the hundreds of community members who have received critical tax services through the Bookstein Institute,” Harrison said. “Rev. James Lawson is a titan of the civil rights movement and a direct link to the social justice movement that brought much-needed change to our country. He exhibited his commitment to the next generation of activists time and time again by sharing his experiences and his knowledge with our students.

“I am personally grateful to both honorees for their enduring connection to CSUN and the broad impact both have had on society as a whole,” she said.

The Rev. James Lawson, seen here speaking to a group of students, is receiving an honorary doctorate from CSUN. Photo by Lee Choo.

Lawson said he was touched to learn that he was receiving an honorary doctorate from CSUN.

“When the letter arrived [informing me of the honor], I had no idea the process was going on,” he said. “It was a total surprise to me and my family, but it was a pleasant surprise. It means a great deal to me. It is quite an accomplishment to receive such an honor from the largest Cal State campus in the CSU system.

“I see it as a recognition of not so much of what I have done, but a reflection of the work being done by the great multiplicity of people who have engaged with me across the decades to affect nonviolent, positive change,” said Lawson, who has spent the past six years working with CSUN’s Civil Discourse & Social Change Initiative.

Bookstein said he was “extremely honored” to receive the doctorate. “I am still having a tough time understanding why me.”

“I don’t think I do anything that unique,” said Bookstein, a leading authority in real estate and estate and tax planning who has spent decades mentoring and supporting CSUN business students. “To be honest, I think everyone should care this much about giving back to their alma mater or to the community. In many ways it’s selfish, because what you get back is so much more than you could ever give: to see the difference you make, to see people, students, asking questions they may not have thought of before. I can’t think of a better return on your investment, if you want to use a business model. There is nothing greater than what you feel inside.”

Harvey Bookstein is receiving an honorary doctorate from CSUN. Photo by Lee Choo.

Bookstein, a certified public accountant who graduated from CSUN in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, has nearly 50 years of public accounting experience and specializes in providing tax, accounting and business consulting services to clients in the real estate and high-net-worth practice areas. Since he graduated from CSUN, he has become recognized as one of California’s most respected certified public accountants. Bookstein is a senior partner of prestigious national CPA firm Armanino, after merging his firm that he co-founded in 1975 — RBZ — last year. He also specializes in financial issues relating to children, divorce and the development of strategies to pass family wealth from one generation to the next — including a method he developed and registered a trademark for called “Therapeutic Accounting®.” Bookstein authored a book, “Wake-Up Call,” where he describes his life experiences that led to the creation of “Therapeutic Accounting®.”

Bookstein and his wife, Harriet, a CSUN alumna, have been longtime supporters of CSUN and its David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. Several of the Bookstein’s children are also alumni of CSUN. Over the years, Harvey Bookstein has guest lectured in dozens of classes and mentored hundreds of CSUN students. In 2005, he and his wife donated $1 million for the creation of the Harvey and Harriet Bookstein Chair in Taxation and the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation. Among other things, the institute assists about 130 low-income taxpayers each year to resolve their disputes with the IRS — free of charge. Active on several CSUN boards, Bookstein received CSUN’s prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009. He also received the Dorothea “Granny” Heitz Award for Outstanding Volunteer Leadership. Named in honor of the woman whose loyalty and school spirit made her a legendary figure on campus, the award is presented annually to alumni or friends who serve the university as outstanding volunteer role models and leaders.

Lawson was born in Pennsylvania in 1928. His father and grandfather were Methodist ministers, and Lawson received his local preacher’s license in 1947, the year he graduated from high school. At his Methodist college in Ohio, he joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), America’s oldest pacifist organization. Through FOR, he was first exposed to the nonviolent teachings of Gandhi and fellow black minister Howard Thurman.

In 1951, Lawson was sentenced to three years in prison for resisting military conscription. He was paroled after 13 months, obtained his B.A. in 1952, and spent the next three years as a campus minister and coach at Hislop College in Nagpur, India. While in India, Lawson eagerly read of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the emerging nonviolent resistance movement back in the United States.

By 1957, Lawson decided he could no longer sit on the sidelines. He opened a FOR field office in Nashville, Tenn., where he began holding seminars to train volunteers in Gandhian tactics of nonviolent direct action. Drawing on the example of Christ’s suffering, he taught growing numbers of black and white students how to organize sit-ins and any other forms of action that would force America to confront the immorality of segregation.

Lawson helped coordinate the Freedom Rides in 1961 and the Meredith March in 1966, and while working as a pastor at the Centenary Methodist Church in Memphis, he played a major role in the sanitation workers strike of 1968. On the eve of his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. called Lawson “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.”

In 1974, Lawson moved to Los Angeles to be the pastor of Holman United Methodist Church. He hosted a weekly call-in show, “Lawson Live,” where he discussed social and human rights issues affecting minority communities. He spoke out against racism and challenged the Cold War and U.S. military involvement throughout the world. Even after his retirement, Lawson was protesting with the Janitors for Justice campaign in Los Angeles, and with gay and lesbian Methodists in Cleveland.

For the past six years, Lawson has been affiliated with CSUN’s Civil Discourse & Social Change Initiative, teaching a course about nonviolent conflict social movements.