Colorado State University’s Women and Gender Advocacy Center annually hosts a conference each spring semester that serves to open up a space on campus for the northern Colorado community to create coalition and share knowledge in regard to intersectional social justice.

This year’s conference will commence on Saturday, March 31 in the Lory Student Center from 9 p.m. to 4 p.m., with student and faculty-led break-out sessions and facilitations occurring throughout the day simultaneously so that individuals can pick what they would like to attend.

In addition to the countless opportunities available throughout the day to collectively engage in topics effecting our realities with others who seek to expedite the deconstruction of oppression, here are even more reasons to be excited about this year’s Feminists Thought and Activism Conference:

1.The keynote speaker will inspire you. 

This year’s keynote speaker will be Syrian-American story-telling activist Amal Kassir. Kassir was born and raised in Aurora and is an international spoken word poet that has performed in 10 countries and over 45 cities across the world. She attended University of Colorado Denver where she cultivated her own undergraduate degree: Community Programming in Social Psychology. According to the Denver post, Kassir focused on getting an education that will allow her to work with children who are psychologically traumatized by living in war zones.

“Her work in the community involves humanitarian initiatives for Syria, speaking out and organizing against Islamophobia, and empowering the voice of the marginalized through writing and speaking,” according to her biography on bookamuslim.com. 

Kassir started the nonprofit Project More Than Metaphors to raise money for humanitarian assistance in Syria.

2. The conference changes its name this year. 

In pervious years, the activist conference was known as the Women’s Conference. With the intentions to more accurately reflect what the event encompasses, abandon binary notions of gender experience and speak to feminism’s duty to battle not just sexism but all facets of oppression, this year the conference will be known as the Feminist Thought and Activism Conference. With such a name change, participants can have a better idea of what to expect when attending the various break-out sessions.

3. This year’s theme is awesome. 

This year’s theme for the conference is Planting Flowers of Resistance: Finding Feminist Roots in Times of Political Turmoil. The elusion to political turmoil speaks to the fatigue and fear that the current political climate breaches onto those who defy it, and the idea of feminists roots and planting flowers calls to the need to ground ourselves in our efforts to continuously resist. 

FTAC’s event on Facebook reads, “The roots of the plant represent the social, political, economic, and environmental justice thoughts shared at this conference. This complex network of support nurtures the growth of the flower into full-bloom, where it can take thoughts and turn them into action. The shape, shade, and size of the flower represent the different creative, critical ways that we show up in our current climate. This year’s theme is an invitation to recharge , re-center, and reaffirm our commitment to the values contingent for liberation.”

Gender Inclusive Restrooms will be available to attendees throughout the conference.

4. The whole event is free.

While keynote speaker Amal Kassir presents, lunch will be provided to attendees. Additionally, parking for the event will require no additional funds. If you want to participate and contribute to the conference but find that taking care of a child may inhibit your ability to attend, Women and Gender Advocacy staff will be providing childcare for anyone who would like to utilize it during the duration of the conference. The conference’s Facebook page requests that those who have this need, or have any questions, to contact the WGAC. To ensure that enough lunch is provided for everyone, attendees are encouraged to RSVP to the event at www.wgac.colostate.edu.

Registration ends March 29, but those who forget to register or decide to attend day-of are welcome to join the conference. Being a student or staff of Colorado State University is not required to attend.

Collegian reporter Miranda Moses can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @mirandasrad.