Workshop On Law Enforcement And Civil Rights

The Oneonta Branch of the NAACP and SUNY Oneonta's Department of Africana and Latino Studies will be sponsoring a “KNOW YOUR RIGHTS” interactive workshop led by Barrie Gewanter, Director of the Syracuse office of the NYCLU. The workshop will be held on campus, Wednesday, October 23, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Center for Multicultural Experiences, in Lee Hall. It will be open to the campus community and to the public-at-large. The idea for the workshop grew out of students' questions regarding their encounters with law enforcement. The intent of the workshop will be is to make students more knowledgeable about their civil rights and to give them a forum in which to voice their concerns. They will also have the opportunity to take away informative material for their referral. Other sponsors of the event will be: UUP Oneonta, and the Center for Multicultural Experiences, with support from ALS, PASO, CSO, and SGE student groups. In addition to students and Barrie Gewanter, other participants in the “Know Your Rights” workshop will be: Oneonta Attorney Carol Malz, Robert Compton, chair of SUNY Oneonta's Africana and Latino Studies Department and Lee Fisher, President of the Oneonta NAACP. Barrie Gewanter is the Director of the CNY Chapter of the New York Liberties Union. She has played key roles in the implementation of same-sex domestic partner benefits at Syracuse University; the drafting of the Syracuse Living Wage Law; the passage of laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. As co-founder of the Central NY Bill of Rights Defense Campaign, Gewanter has helped secure the passage of a Bill of Rights Preservation Resolution in the Syracuse Common Council. Gewanter is a leader of the United as One Coalition, a gross-cultural grassroots coalition formed in 2010 to seek accountability and transparency from police and jail officials in Syracuse and Onondaga County. She a member of the Legislative Advisory Committee that drafted legislation for the Syracuse Citizen Review Board. Gewanter's work on the Living Wage Campaign earned her an award from the Human Rights Commission of Syracuse. She earned a Peacemaker Award from the Peace Action of Central New York for “making peace by advocating for civil liberties.” Barrie Gewanter was also honored with a Community Service Award from the Syracuse/Onondaga County Branch of NAACP. Attorney-at-Law Carol Malz has practiced law in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana. She obtained her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law and is a graduate of the New School for Social Research. Ms. Malz is a member of the Otsego and Broome County Bar Associations, and has been Treasurer of the Mid-York Chapter of the New York State Women's Bar Association. She is the recipient of the New York State Bar Association President's Pro Bono Service Award, the Oneonta NAACP's Thurgood Marshall Unity Award, the NAACP's Award for Community Service, and the American Jurisprudence Award. Malz is a former president of the Otsego County Conservation Association, and a former member of the Community Awareness Taskforce of Delaware & Otsego Counties, helping organize forums on civil rights, anti-bullying, municipal power, and housing. She is presently a member of Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta.