With events designed to create spaces for faculty and students to be able to grow and educate themselves, the Social Sciences department presented The Oxford Consortium for Human Rights (OCHR) workshop for this sole purpose. Held in Healdsburg, 10 SSU Social Science students attended the event from March 31 to April 3.

The OCHR provides seminars on human rights, global conflict, humanitarian aid, peace building as well as related subjects that are teaching and research based. Their website states that, “Our aim is to understand and develop constructive solutions to the problems of today, drawing from scholars and students from a wide variety of disciplines.” 

Out of the 10 students that attended, three were sponsored by the first generation office and three faculty members were sponsored by Troi Carleton, the dean for the school of social sciences. 

Carleton stated “Our students came up with great ideas for addressing the wildfire season and impact on students.” Wildfire season is such a prevalent issue in Sonoma County, so having students address this topic is important for the SSU community. 

Sonoma State students have been evacuated from campus two times within the last four years. In the past, there have been a lot of miscommunication between the students and the school due to the unforeseeable nature of fires in Sonoma County. Having a meeting on this topic allows the university to understand what students need in order to thrive personally and academically during times of evacuations.

One of the students that was able to attend was Yodite Gebre, a first year graduate student obtaining her Masters in Counseling. Gebre said, “The workshop helped me acknowledge the different experiences and moments in my personal life that accumulated together over the years and made me want to be an advocate for others. It also taught me the importance of hearing and including other stories of people who are directly impacted by the social issues I want to bring awareness to.” 

Gebre was among the students who came up with ideas to address fire season and the impact on students, which stems from the personal experience she has as a student. Gebre also went on to say, “This workshop opened my eyes to how social and political human rights issues don’t only exist far away in other countries but are right here in my immediate surroundings that need more voices brought to it. I was given the formula of what it takes to create a successful campaign and I am forever grateful and only hope to spread this knowledge more.” 

Another student, Orleana Plytas who is a first-year Sociology major and president of the sociology club, stated, “ In my life I have lacked empowerment of possibility. However, I feel grateful for the professors and the dean for supporting my participation in the workshops. They gave me confidence to receive the message of the workshops. Their belief in me gave me the ability to support, encourage and inspire others to see themselves capable in the work of equitability and equality.”

The Oxford Consortium raised awareness about the significance of people’s experiences and how they might provide insight into human rights challenges that remain prevalent in Sonoma County, such as climate change and farmworker rights. Students who attended this workshop walked away feeling inspired by the speakers as they shared their success stories of assisting marginalized and underrepresented communities.