Equity Conference Only a Few Weeks Away

CFA’s Equity Conference 2024, “Waves of Resistance: Merging Waters as Pathways to Justice and Healing,” will be held virtually from March 13 to 16. The Equity Conference is a project of the Council for Racial & Social Justice and an opportunity for CFA members to connect for co-liberation.

CFA Treasurer Vang Vang shares her experience of attending her first Equity Conference and why she is looking forward to this year’s conference.

“I remember going to my very first Equity Conference,” said Vang, Fresno State Librarian. The year was 2018. I was going through a lot of changes professionally and personally when Diane Blair (then Fresno State CFA chapter president) reached out to me to see if I would be interested in attending CFA’s Equity Conference. I agreed and registered. I was anxious regarding the conference but secretly thrilled too as I’d read the conference’s narrative. Equity 2018 – ‘Equity Interrupted in the Academy: Rights, Resistance, and Power!’ was held in person at the Sheraton Gateway, Los Angeles Airport. 

“At the conference, I met so many faculty from across the 23 campuses, and some of them actually looked like me! I was introduced to the caucuses, councils, and committees, and I choose three (Asian Pacific Islanders, women, and librarians) to visit. I was never alone at lunch or dinner times as someone always asked to join in and introduced themselves. I learned so much that weekend about the many faces of sexism in the 21st Century, DACA, Executive Orders 1100 & 1110, microaggressions and Janus. I came away wanting to be more involved in the union and understanding that CFA members’ work is not just about raises.

“At the conference, I met so many faculty from across the 23 campuses, and some of them actually looked like me!.”

– Vang vang, CFA Treasurer and Fresno State Librarian.

“Today, I’m so proud to be part of the planning team for this year’s Equity Conference – ‘Waves of Resistance: Merging Waters as Pathways to Justice and Healing.’ At Equity this year, we will be collaborating for the common good, taking care of each other as well as caring for ourselves so we can heal, rejuvenate and live joyously. More importantly, I am so excited to share that Isabel Wilkerson, the author of ‘Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents’ will be one of our many keynote speakers. Additionally, we will have fun getting to know each other through the board game Trivial Pursuit and yoga.

I hope you’ll be able to join us at this year’s Equity Conference and make some memories!”

As Vang highlighted, this year’s conference will focus on solidarity and healing through connectedness and collaboration. It will highlight the benefits and challenges of anti-racism and social justice liberation and collaboration for the university community and beyond. The themes for the Equity Conference are:

• Collaborating for the Common Good: Trouble the Water
• Care and Healing: Ebb and Flow
• Living Joyously and Free: Jubilee

Keynote speakers and workshops will be announced as we near the conference date, and registration will open soon. For the full conference narrative and information about and videos from past Equity Conferences, please visit the conference website.