Southeastern Social Justice Speaker Series welcomes prisons expert Jordan Mazurek
Tuesday, October 16, 2018 
by: Tonya Lowentritt
SOCIAL JUSTICE SPEAKER - Southeastern Louisiana University’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice will present Sociologist Jordan Mazurek, the national organizer and co-creator of the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons, as Southeastern’s 2018 Social Justice Speaker. Mazurek will offer a free lecture and workshop on Nov. 1
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s Department of Sociology and Criminal
Justice will present Sociologist Jordan Mazurek, the national organizer and co-creator
of the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons, as Southeastern’s 2018 Social Justice Speaker.
Mazurek will present a lecture on Toxic Prisons at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov.
1, at Pottle Music Auditorium on Southeastern’s campus. Free and open to the public,
the lecture will be followed by a free workshop at 2 p.m. in Fayard Hall, room 205.
Professor Marc Settembrino, chair of the Southeastern Social Justice Speaker
Series, said the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons (FTP) seeks to build grassroots organizing,
advocacy, research, and direct action at the intersections of incarceration, health,
and ecology.
“Jordan Mazurek has an impressive record of activism and scholarship that will
appeal to Southeastern’s students. I meet a lot of students who want to make a positive
change in their community but don’t know how,” said Settembrino. “Jordan’s lecture
and workshop will be a great opportunity for our students to learn how to do social
justice work. I think our students will be able to relate to Jordan and the work he’s
doing.”
“Criminal justice reform and environmental protection are important issues in
Louisiana right now,” Settembrino added. “Jordan’s research and activism blends these
two issues. Overall, I think there’s something for everyone in this year’s social
justice speaker series events.”
The Sociology and Criminal Justice Department organizes the annual Social Justice
Speaker Series as a means of bringing nationally and internationally recognized social
justice activists to the Southeastern community. Previous speakers have included Sister
Helen Prejean on the death penalty, Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty and Law Center
on race and racism, and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, on war and human
rights.
Mazurek is Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Fellow pursuing a doctorate in cultural
and global criminology from the University of Kent and Universität Hamburg, using
his doctoral thesis to explore the spatial and environmental justice implications
of America’s toxic prison system.
For more information, contact the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice
at 985-549-2110.
