MOUNT VERNON - A conference Nov. 17-18 at Cornell College will feature international food, live music, hands-on workshops and other presentations to help area residents explore the many languages and cultures represented in eastern Iowa, along with the human rights challenges facing people in local communities and abroad.
Titled “
A World of Difference: Languages, Cultures, and Human Rights,” the conference goal is to encourage students and other area residents to become more committed to language study, more fluent in global cultures and more aware of how language and culture impact human rights. This training can help prepare students to become global citizens.
Featured events include a lecture Thursday, Nov. 17, by Chris Rossi, former director of human rights on the National Security Council during the Clinton presidency and current executive director of Humanities Iowa. His talk, “No Ifs, Ands or Buts: Language as a Human Right,” is at 6:30 p.m. in Hedges Conference Room, The Commons.
On Friday, Nov. 18, approximately 280 area high school students will be on campus to participate in workshops. From 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Kol Shira will present a musical performance of traditional Yiddish, Hebrew, Latino and Russian music on the Orange Carpet in The Commons. The conference will conclude Friday afternoon with “Cultural Kaleidoscope,” a fair on the Orange Carpet for local elementary school students featuring games, dances, music, art, language, food, clothing, story-telling, pictures, currency and traditions from around the world. Students must be accompanied by a guardian.
All conference programming is free and open to the public.
