WVU Parkersburg Sponsors Nonviolence Workshop, Other Sessions as Part of Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A free workshop on "Hate Crime: The Violence of Intolerance" will be presented at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 23, at West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

Featured speaker will be Diane Mitchum, a conciliation specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service in Philadelphia. The workshop will be held in the college’s multi-purpose room and is open to the public.

The session will offer definitions of intolerance, early warning signs and tools to foster a healthy race-relations climate. The concluding segment will consider individual/group action planning and best practices to prevent crimes from escalating into racial and ethnic conflict, tensions or civil disturbances.

An afternoon session will be held at 2 p.m. for WVU Parkersburg students, faculty and staff.

In addition, a workshop for area public school teachers and WVU Parkersburg education majors will be held Thursday, Jan. 24, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at the college. "Non-Violent Ways of Coping in a Violent World" will feature Charlotte Landvoigt and Fran Allen, both of the Counseling and Wellness Center. To be discussed will be why conflict is inevitable, how to recognize conflict and non-violent limit setting with children.  The speakers will also address how best to respond to children’s concerns about the violence of September 11^th and beyond.

The workshops are part of WVU Parkersburg’s observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and are sponsored by the college’s Social Justice Committee. Additional information is available by contacting Devika Malhotra, professor of sociology, at 424-8229.

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