As part of orientation week a series of talks and workshops will be held on equality and diversity with the themes of Tolerance and Freedom from Discrimination.

We have also developed a series of booklets to support these events and Equality at Birkbeck

Monday        19th September 2011     Diverse Beliefs, Inclusion or Isolation - World Café   
Tuesday        20th September 2011     'My Rights' - a personal perspective of human rights
Wednesday   21st September 2011     Religious and Cultural intolerance - a talk by Bernd Koschland 
Thursday      22nd September 2011    Dream It Up, Start It Now: Making Equality a Reality     

All workshops start at 6.00pm and will finish about 7.30pm and will be held at Malet Street

Please click this link diversity form to book an event.  Refreshments will be available at all events.

Monday 19 September: Diverse Beliefs, Inclusion or Isolation - World Café facilitated by Campusalam in room 417
How do our beliefs affect our neighbours? Join students and staff at Birkbeck for an interactive journey of ideas in a comfortable café setting. We will use storytelling, visual arts and open discussion to explore our diverse beliefs and how we relate to each other. Tolerance and extremism, inclusion and isolation, equality and rights – what do these terms mean to us? The results of our café will help to drive the Birkbeck equalities strategy forward.

Tuesday 20 September: 'My Rights' in room 417
A talk from an academic refugee about his personal experience in his home country due to intolerance and infringement of his human rights.  There will be a Q&A slot after the talk.

Wednesday 21 September: Talk by Bernd Koschland - working with Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) in room 417
Bernd who came to England on the 'Kindertransport' in 1939, will talk about events in history that have resulted in extremist acts due to religious and cultural intolerance. The talk will be followed by a Question and Answer session.

Thursday 22 September: Dream It Up, Start It Now: Making Equality a Reality in room 417
Are you fizzing with ideas and ready to be a change-maker? Finish off Orientation Week with an interactive event that takes your creative ideas on equality and makes them a reality. Join staff and students at Birkbeck to form a solution-oriented action plan using creative tools. We will contribute up to £500 towards the implementation of  the best plan to make it a reality. Together we can make our campus a model of equality.   

Equality at Birkbeck

A series of booklets is also available to support the diversity events on the following themes:

• Diversity and Culture
• Freedom from Discrimination
• Tolerance and Extremism
• Inclusion and Isolation
• Your Rights

Please email diversity@bbk.ac.uk if you would like a set of these booklets.

About Our Partners:

Campusalam: Your event facilitators are from Campusalam, a project that builds bridges around issues of faith and belief on campuses across the UK. The Lokahi Foundation is an independent charity devoted to research and community projects on faith, belief and culture and their impact on society. For more information, visit www.campusalam.org 

Council for Assisting Refugee Academics: Protecting knowledge and learning: reaching out to academics in need.  Academic freedom and the provision of practical support lie at the heart of CARA's work, supported by a network of 69 UK universities.  CARA was founded in 1933 by Sir William Beveridge, then Director of the London School of Economics, who rallied John Maynard Keynes and Ernest Rutherford amongst other distinguished figures of the day to support the rescue of persecuted academics fleeing Nazi Europe.  Over years, it has provided sanctuary and support to thousands of academics, eighteen of whom went on to be honoured as Nobel Laureates.  Beveridge's work remains as critical today as ever, with educators all too often amongst the first to be targeted by state sponsored violence and repression.

"Without such freedom there would be no Shakespeare, no Goethe, no Newton, no Faraday, no Pasteur and no Lister."

Albert Einstein, May 1933, CARA Inaugural meeting.

Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE): was established 35 years ago.  Its aim is to engage the Jewish community in social action in the wider society, with a focus on race equality and justice for refugees and asylum seekers.  Their work draws on the Jewish refugee experience, Jewish teaching, and a tradition of Jewish social activism.  JCORE is committed to:

• develop and deliver race equality education for all ages;
• campaign against racism, and on refugee and asylum issues;
• provide practical support to refugees and asylum seekers;
• bring together other minorities in the UK.

Bernd Koschland is working with JCORE to deliver the talk on religion and cultural intolerance.  Bernd came to the UK on the Kindertransport in 1939.  He was a teacher for over 31 years and was a minister of religion in various synagogues.  Bernd is actively involved in a range of voluntary and community activities as the Chair of the Barnet Multi-Faith Forum and he is the Hospital Chaplain at the Royal Free Hospital.