Gender Equity Issue to Be Topic at CSUN

Actress Carmen Zapata is among the participants today in the third annual “Gender Equity in Education” presentation at Cal State Northridge.

Zapata, whose movie credits include “Sister Act” and “Sister Act II,” will narrate a play by the campus theater group Teatro Sin Fronteras illustrating the impact of gender inequity in high school and university classrooms, said Cheryl Atienza, development assistant for the presentation.

“Gender inequity needs to be addressed, and through this presentation we will bring this issue to the public’s attention,” Atienza said. “It will open up a lot of minds.”

Following the play, there will be a panel discussion and a question-and-answer session on gender equity in university and high school classrooms, she said.

The panelists are Florene Rozen, director of the Gender Equity Commission of the Los Angeles Unified School District; Sharon Schuster, former president of the American Assn. of University Women in Washington, D.C.; Irene Cota, elementary education professor at CSUN; and Deanne Neiman, director of Education Equity Compliance in the LAUSD.

The presentation is sponsored by Phi Kappa Phi, an honorary society for graduate students at CSUN, the LAUSD Gender Equity Commission and Los Angeles-based attorneys Janice and Ben Reznik.

The free public event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center in the Student Union on the east side of campus, which is at 18111 Nordhoff St.

Reservations are required. For more information, call (818) 677-2590.