Bahá’í Chair Event Examines Sexual Assault on College Campuses

The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace is a leader throughout the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the University of Maryland in bringing scholars and thought leaders from around the world to discuss the issues and challenges of our times in a solution-oriented manner. This dialogue continued on Oct. 15 with the Chair’s 2014 Fall Lecture, “Journeys to Justice: From Victim to Survivor,” featuring Lisa F. Jackson, documentary filmmaker, Emmy Award and Sundance Jury Prize winner.

This special event was part of the Chair’s Empowerment of Women and Peace Series, and was cosponsored by the Department of Women’s Studies.

Professor Hoda Mahmoudi, the incumbent of the Bahá’í Chair, designed this program—and other events touching on timely issues such as climate change, economic disparity and the root causes of racism—to advance interdisciplinary examination and discourse on global peace.

“Sexual assault on college campuses or anywhere is a topic that affects every one of us, women and men, throughout the world. This is not a ‘women’s issue,’ it is an issue of global importance that directly affects our families, our campuses, our communities, our nation and our world. We invite everyone to be a part of this discussion and to be a part of the creation of a safe, secure and empowering world for all,” said Dr. Hoda Mahmoudi.

Jackson discussed a documentary she is currently finishing about the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses and the burgeoning movement of survivor activists who have begun holding their schools accountable.

Jackson has been making documentary films for more than 35 years. Her numerous awards include two Emmys and a Sundance Jury Prize. Sex Crimes Unit, her most recent film, is an unprecedented verité portrait of prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as they work to bring justice to victims of sexual violence. It aired on HBO in June 2011. Jackson shotThe Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It won a Special Jury Prize for Documentaries at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, earned 2 Emmy nominations and was broadcast on HBO.

Jackson studied filmmaking at MIT with Richard Leacock and has directed and/or edited dozens of films for PBS.

To learn more about upcoming events, visit www.bahaichair.umd.edu.

Published on Mon, Oct 13, 2014 - 8:29AM