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Disability and Social Change Activist/Author Inspires Marymount Manhattan College Students

On Monday, April 15th, the room was packed to hear an invited speaker – Simi Linton, Ph.D. Marymount Manhattan students from three classes (Introduction to Community Psychology: Examining Barriers to Solving Social Problems, Sociology Special Topics-Advocacy, Web Video Activism), a few faculty, and a staff member heard an inspiring presentation. Dr. Linton is the author of Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identify and My Body Politic. She is the Co-Producer/Director of a forthcoming documentary film, Invitation to Dance. She was on the faculty of the City University of New York for 14 years, leaving in 1998 to develop her arts consultancy. Her work focuses on shaping the presentation of disability in the arts and increasing the representation of works by disabled artists. 

Students were encouraged to participate in an active discussion about prejudice and “Ableism.” While many students showed a good understanding of many issues related to the growth of the Disability Rights Movement, others learned about the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was exciting to hear about an upcoming legal case in Manhattan. Dr. Linton encouraged students to attend a court hearing this Thursday about whether to mandate New York City cabs to be wheelchair accessible. The students were particularly pleased to be offered an opportunity to view a trailer for Dr. Linton’s forthcoming documentary. It was clear that many students were impressed and moved by the trailer and were looking forward to viewing the entire documentary http://www.invitationtodancemovie.com/

Published: April 18, 2013

Math Department Holds The Eleventh Annual Pi-Day Contest

Every year, the Mathematics department holds a College-wide π-Day contest. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to submit an original sentence, paragraph, poem, or short story that uses the digits of π in order (π ≈ 3.1415926..).