Crisostomo to speak at Cornell’s "Chicano Week"

MOUNT VERNON – Noted social activist Paula Crisostomo will speak on “Walkout: Educational Equity and Chicano Civil Rights” at Cornell College Thursday, April 9, at 7 p.m. in Hedges Lounge.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Crisostomo is the subject of the PBS documentary Chicano!: Taking Back the Schools and the award-winning HBO movie Walkout, which depicts the events of 1968 when Crisostomo organized the largest high school student protest in American History. Thousands of students walked out of their classrooms in Los Angeles to protest racial inequality toward Chicanos.

Crisostomo is currently director of government and community relations for Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Cornell’s Organization for Latino Awareness is sponsoring Crisostomo’s talk as part of Chicano Week, a week celebrating and examining Chicano issues. Events include:

-Chicano issues poster session Monday, April 6, on The Orange Carpet

-A panel discussion Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on the Orange Carpet

-A Public showing of Walkout, Wed., April 8 at 7 p.m. in the Ratt

For more information, contact the Office of Intercultural Life at 319-895-4484.