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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MNSU chapter.

Amanda Schemkes, a lawyer with the Civil Liberties Defense Center and lead organizer of No New Labs, will be coming to Minnesota State University, Mankato to facilitate a workshop on the Freedom of Information Act and rights individuals have for advocacy and community organizing. This event is brought to by the following Recognized Student Organizations: Protecting Animal Rights Committee, Society of Professional Journalists, Gender & Women’s Studies Club, and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.

 

Check out the event’s Facebook page!

 

The event will take place on Monday, March 21, 2016, from 2pm-4pm in the MNSU Centennial Student Union South Ballroom. It will be open to all students, faculty, staff and the Mankato community free of charge!

When we are engaged in social justice advocacy, we need to have the tools that will help us to be effective — and one of those tools is having legal knowledge that will make our campaigns, actions, and organizing more powerful. That is why these four MNSU RSO’s have decided to host a Know Your Rights event. The Legal Primer for Social Justice Advocacy presentation from the Civil Liberties Defense Center about the basic constitutional rights that apply to advocacy work, how to deal with interactions with law enforcement, combating the impacts of State repression, and how to do basic legal research and use open government laws.

Amanda Schemkes is a staff attorney with the Civil Liberties Defense Center; she received her J.D. from the Seattle University School of Law and M.S. in Writing & Book Publishing from Portland State University. Amanda decided to become an attorney because of her experiences in the animal liberation movement, through which she saw a need for legal support that is grounded in solidarity and resistance. She has traveled throughout the country to work with grassroots communities that are fighting to protect the earth and its inhabitants. Amanda is also an organizer of the No New Animal Lab campaign, which has sparked international involvement and is inspiring a movement that is rising out of being hit by a wave of State repression.

Are you taking a class that requires you to attend a few Diversity Events? Talk to your instructor because we have a feeling that this event will qualify. We hope to see you there!

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Elise Pawlak is a double major in Creative Writing and Mass Media with double minor in Gender Women’s Studies and Nonprofit Leadership at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is constantly running around campus with being the President of Society of Professional Journalists, Treasurer of Public Relations Student Society of America, Treasurer of Gender Women’s Studies club, the Communications chair for the Women of Action Committee, and the Public Relations intern for the MNSU Women’s Center. When she does have a free moment it is spent rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes and connecting with her spirit animal: The Bloody Mary. After she graduates in May of 2016 she plans to pursue a career in the world of writing… hopefully landing a job that will help her pay off her student loans before she starts collecting social security.
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Hello! My name is Leah Rost and I'm a senior Gender and Women's Studies major double minoring in Creative Writing and Sexualities Studies. This is my second year as an intern for the Women's Center and I am President of Gender and Women's Studies club. In my free time I write poetry, do yoga, hike and love to laugh a lot!
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