Equity Conference 2026

9:30am – 10:00am
Opening and Welcome
Equity Conference Committee
This session will help participants get Equity Conference oriented and grounded as the planners share their thoughts and excitement for “Thriving through Chaos” sessions to come in the next few days.

10:00am – 11:30am
Session 1
Panel: Indigenous Futures: Lessons from the Land and Water – Cutcha Risling Baldy, Cal Poly Humboldt and Kaitlin Reed, Cal Poly Humboldt
Cutcha Risling Baldy (enrolled Hoopa Valley Tribe, Yurok/Karuk) and Kaitlin Reed (enrolled Yurok Tribe, Hupa/Oneida) are co-directors of Rou Dalagurr: Food Sovereignty Lab & Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute (Rou Dalagurr). Both Risling Baldy and Reed  were born in Humboldt County and each felt strong connections to their cultures. For Risling Baldy, her deep involvement with her community includes revitalizing the Flower Dance. For Reed, returning home as an adult after moving away as a child, allowed her to work for the Yurok Tribe. The two initially crossed paths while students at UC Davis, and later reconnected as faculty at Cal Poly Humboldt, they are driven by a shared mission to support Native American students and tribes. Together, they mentor students, guiding them through research, project development, and advocacy, while also fostering collaborations that address community needs. On a mission to indigenize the Cal Poly Humboldt campus and extend the university’s resources to support the broader Indigenous community, they now serve as co-directors of Rou Dalagurr. This session will focus on the transformative spaces they have created, like the Food Sovereignty Lab and Wiyot Plaza, to lead impactful initiatives that integrate Indigenous knowledge and practices into both academia and the community.

12:00pm – 1:30pm
Session 2
Panel: Academic Freedom, EEOC, and Title IX – Karma Chavez, UT Austin; Rana Jaleel, UC Davis and AAUP; Veronica Obregon, CSULA
Academic freedom is the indispensable requisite for meaningful teaching and research in institutions of higher education, according to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Some may define it as faculty expression to say, investigate, or publish issues in their field; we emphasize how academic freedom also encompasses faculty’s ability to cultivate student imagination and build relationships that envision democratic practices.    With higher education under attack, faculty have to contend with two layers of the challenge: one, an authoritarian far-right government, and two, university administration. The first, the government, continues to gut hard-fought protections, like Title IX, while weaponizing federal departments, like the EEOC. The second, university administration, suppresses campus speech while retaliating against those who challenge those suppressions. This panel asks what organizing higher education looks like in the face of these restrictions or disciplinary actions on otherwise lawful speech. Hear from panelists on these stories of resistance from which to draw lessons.

2:00pm – 3:30pm
Session 3
Workshop: The Politics of Legislative Bill Ideas– CFA Advocacy, Policy, and Strategy
The purpose of this workshop is to give our members a sense of the bill development process (e.g., you need more than a good bill idea) and political considerations (e.g., how to choose an author). The workshop will include two breakout teams where members can take existing laws and practice mocking up bill language.
 
The training will:

1) Center on the Liberate the CSU campaign

2) Ground faculty activists in today’s political realities while building confidence, clarity, and collective power     

3) Provide skills building on bill development and legislative advocacy. At the end of our workshop, you will get an update on the Fight Back election work coming up in 2026! We are working hard to elect champions in California and in DC!

4:00pm – 5:30pm
Session 4
Plenary: How to Respond to Rising Christian Nationalism & Authoritarianism – Matthew Boedy, University of North Georgia and American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
The attacks on education and democracy are part of broader plans to Christianize America and destroy Democracy. Among the influences that created Project 2025 is the belief of proclaimed “culture warriors” in the Seven Mountains Mandate which calls for Christians to influence seven key societal spheres at the institutional level (family, religion, education, government, media, arts/entertainment, and business) to impose biblical values and foster the Second Coming. Boedy will share with conference participants his research and forward reflections that have earned him place on the “professor watchlist”.

6:00pm – 7:30pm
Session 5
Panel: Antisemitism: Safety Through Solidarity – Barry Trachtenberg, Wake Forest University; Shane Burley, writer and filmmaker; and Ben Lorber, Political Research Associates
This will be a dynamic exchange between panelist and participants on modern Jewry, understanding Zionism, and detangling antisemitism.

9:00am – 10:30am
Session 1
Panel: Gender, Trans, and Women Gender Sexuality Studies Under Attack – Loren Cannon, Cal Poly Humboldt; Lori Baralt, CSULB; Tomomi Kinukawa; SFSU
In February 2026, Texas A&M University ended its Women’s and Gender Studies program citing limitations on discussions of “race or gender ideology.”  A few years prior, the Florida government also abolished agender studies program at the New College in order to restore “classic liberal education.” Institutions in Kansas, Ohio, and Rhode Island have followed suit. At the CSU, last year, Sonoma State University administration eliminated its Women’s and Gender Studies department due to an alleged budgetary deficit. While these closures happened for seemingly different reasons, each fit it in a broader trend that reshapes values of gender in social life.  In a 2025 Executive Order to “Defend Women” from so-called “Gender Ideology Extremism,” authoritarian scapegoating of the use of “gender” establishes these values as it attacks trans bodies, trans lives, and any non-conforming gender and sexuality broadly. This panel connects these trends to consider what lessons past struggles can offer these current attacks; and what CSU faculty and programs are doing to weather these turbulent times.

10:30am – 12:00pm
Session 2
Panel: Thriving through Community: Disabled Care Work and Disabled Futures on Campus – Dr. Debra Berry Malmberg, CSUN; Dr. Jess Block Nerren, CSUSB; Dr. Josie Blagrave, Chico State; Dr. Sara McDaniel, CSU East Bay
This session, a panel led by Disability Inclusion Faculty Fellow, Dr. Jess Block Nerren, will discuss disability justice and disability pride as tools to not only survive but thrive in times where there are chaos and resistance. Topics included will be disability rights status check and where those disability rights came from and a definition of terms of related concepts and ideas. In addition, there will be opportunities for collective organizing and empowering faculty colleagues for disability justice-related collaboration in an environment of disability pride and community care.

12:00pm – 1:30pm
Session 3
Keynote: Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence– Ruha Benjamin, Princeton University
In the name of “smart” borders, the U.S. and Europe have turned to private companies to develop a neocolonial laboratory now deployed against the Global South, borderlands, and routes of migration. They have established immigrant databases, digital IDs, electronic tracking systems, facial recognition software, data fusion centers, and more, all to more “efficiently” categorize and control human beings and their movement. These technologies rarely capture widespread public attention or outrage, but they are quietly remaking our world, scaling up colonial efforts of times past to divide desirables from undesirables, rich from poor, expat from migrant, and citizen from undocumented.

2:00pm – 3:30pm
Session 4
Keynote: Bad Law – Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent at The Nation
Elie Mystal will discuss his provocative new book Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. The book exposes the legal foundations perpetuating inequality, racial bias, and injustice in America today. With his trademark wit and legal acumen, Mystal will describe his incisive reimagining of our legal system and a hopeful roadmap toward a more equitable future.

4:00pm – 5:30pm
Session 5
Panel: Community Defense to Watch ICE – Giselle Garcia, Nor Cal Resist; Andrea Gonzalez, CLEAN Carwash Campaign; Jane Lehr, Ethnic Studies Department, Cal Poly and Shiu-Ming Cheer, California Immigrant Policy Center
Community-based grassroots organizing is at the heart of resistance to ICE harm and abductions. From community patrols and rapid response, to legal observation and mutual aid, communities have come together to fight immigration injustice and defend their cities and communities. This panel will give participants an opportunity to learn from frontline organizers and their models for building powerful labor and community engagement.

6:00pm – 7:30pm
Session 6
Abolition In These Times: Political Prisoners & Prison/Immigration Detention Conditions – Cesar Che Rodriguez, SFSU; Pedro Rios, American Friends Service Committee; and Thandisizwe Chimurenga, Journalist
It’s all connected. The present growth of the prison industrial complex is deeply invested in the criminalization and detention of immigrants, the intertwining of which is known as “crimmigration.” Similarly, the industry promotes and thrives on the demonization of revolutionary and progressive leaders and organizations fighting for full social, political, economic, and democratic inclusion. Once in custody these political prisoners are subjected to abuse and deplorable conditions that too often do not abate. We should never forget them. This panel will share alarming data on the prison industrial complex, crimmigration, and how organizers are fighting back while lifting the names and stories of those stolen.  

9:00am – 10:30am
Session 1
Workshop: How to Make—and Take—Interruptions– Nathan Heggins Bryant, CSU Chico and Andrea Terry, CSU Sacramento
White allies in the CFA need to do better, in many ways, and this new workshop is an attempt to do some of that work. Despite having a series of powerful meeting practices that center antiracism and social justice, particularly our interruption practice, there have been numerous instances where white people have sat in silence and let this work fall to our colleagues of color, our disabled colleagues, our queer and trans colleagues, and our immigrant colleagues. We must not continue to fail our colleagues by continuing to put the labor of interruptions on them. At the same time, folks with more privilege must learn to accept interruptions in ways that facilitate more meaningful dialogue and solidarity, rather than defensiveness that derails our collective work. Please note that this is a pilot and that we would deeply appreciate active participation during the Spring 2026 Equity Conference to provide feedback on this workshop, since it is still in draft form.

This training, coming out of WARC (the white antiracism collective), will feature three different sections, including:

1. a brief history of the interruption statement

2. a discussion of the resistance to making and to taking interruptions as well as how and why white people need to be more consistent in these practices

3. a discussion of the resistance to making and to taking interruptions as well as how and why white people need to be more consistent in these practices

11:00am – 12:30pm
Session 2
Workshop: Doxxing and Digital Security in Academia – Turner Willman, 18 Million Rising
Feeling overwhelmed by the rise of fascism and attacks on our communities? Digital security is one way we can defend ourselves against these threats. Together, we’ll explore high tech threats facing faculty, such as doxxing and surveillance. This 1.5 hour training will guide you through assessing your personal risk and provide tools and best practices for protecting your identity, private data, and communications. The training is designed for faculty, activists, organizers, and anyone in a targeted community who may face harassment.

1:00pm – 2:30pm
Session 3
Keynote: Coalition/Community Building and Dreaming in Tough Times – Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, The Highlander Center; and Alex Tom, Center for Empowered Politics
 Anti-Blackness is deeply rooted in American social, economic and political fabrics—through laws, policies and practice.  Racial solidarity and collective liberation are long key components of effective organizing. This engaging conversation with dynamic seasoned anti-racism and social justice organizers will center the importance of confronting anti-Blackness to build trust and solidarity in multi-racial ethnic spaces.

3:00pm – 4:30pm
Session 4
Workshop: Framing the Issue: What the State Budget Means for CSU Faculty – CFA Communications Team
The issues we’re fighting for matter, but how we frame them is also critical to achieving them. The CSU Budget is one such issue, with the launch of the state budget process in January 2026, while the CSU continues to shortchange our students. This workshop will equip participants with tools to take an aspect of the current budgeting dynamics within the CSU and make compelling messages, elevate shared values, and communicate effectively.

4:45pm – 5:30pm
Conference Closing – Equity Conference Planning Committee
Join the conference planning committee as they share their reflections and hear from participants their take aways.