For Rumana with Love

Rumana’s daughter has made a beautiful painting and we have added a new page to post gifts that you would like to give to Rumana.  Check it out at:

Gifts for Rumana | For Rumana with Love.

St. John’s College presents:
“Justice for Rumana Monzur: A Debate about violence against women from a legal and global perspective”

Panellists:
Louisa Russell: Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter
Dr. Susan Boyd: Professor of Law, Chair in Feminist Legal Studies at UBC
Dr. Janine Benedet: Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at UBC
Dr. Tyseer Aboulnasr: Dean, Faculty of Applied Science, Professor, Electrical Engineering, UBC

Moderator:
Dr. Patricia Vertinsky, Distinguished University Scholar & Professor, School of Human Kinetics, UBC

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=203427053037228

http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=199721&cid=2

CUPE2278 is the union representing Teaching Assistants at UBC. This information was provided by Mohammed Shahidul Alam, an executive of CUPE2278.
See: http://www.facebook.com/pages/CUPE-2278-UBC-TA-Union/130367205822

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=191873

It is heartening to see such a strong community of support for Ms Monzur. This community connects Rumana’s colleagues and friends here in Vancouver to her colleagues, friends and family in Dhaka, and it reaches beyond us as well.  Because it is impossible not to be moved by hearing of the violent attack that Rumana has suffered, this community of support continues to grow.   Her story is all the more compelling for the courageous choices she has made to share this very private harm publicly.

Ms Monzur is also part of our particular community at the University of British Columbia.  I am grateful for the compassion shown by Rumana’s colleagues at Saint John’s College.  And I am grateful for the efforts made on Rumana’s behalf by UBC’s students, faculty, staff and alumni.   I am proud of this community, and proud to be part of it.

And yet all of this, all of this immense goodness and the intense efforts of so many people, cannot undo the past.   The way forward for Ms Monzur will be difficult, and is sure to be frightening.  I join with all of you in keeping Rumana in my thoughts and in my prayers.

As the President of a world-leading university, and as a human rights lawyer, I am deeply committed to the right of all persons to pursue an education.  This right is integral to the mission of all universities.  This right is especially important for women, for whom the barriers to education are significant far too often, and in far too many places.  I join with you in wanting to see Rumana Monzur at her UBC congregation ceremony to receive her Master’s degree in International Relations.  My colleagues are working on various options that would allow this to happen. We raise our voices today to let this courageous woman know that we stand firmly behind her choices about her future.

For more information, visit: www.ubc.ca/helprumana.

Stephen J. Toope
President

http://www.ubc.ca/bulletins/

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/city/2011/06/27/rally-rumana-monzur-photos

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=192042

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/06/28/essay_on_tragic_attack_on_university_of_british_columbia_graduate_student