Former State Sen. Tom Hayden to Share Stories from His Past

Tom Hayden

Tom Hayden

Former California State Sen. Tom Hayden will share stories from his decades as an activist and elected official during a presentation at California State University, Northridge on Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Hayden’s speech, “Post-Election Blues and the Green Jobs,” is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in Jerome Richfield Room 319, the Linda Nichols Josephs Reading Room, on the west side of the campus near Etiwanda Avenue.

“Tom Hayden has written on, spoken about and led action on a multitude of important social and environmental justice issues for many decades before the sustainability movement took off,” said geography professor Helen Cox, the director of CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability and one of the organizers of the event. “We are honored and privileged to have him as a guest and a speaker on our campus, an inspiration to our students, the new generation of emerging leaders.”

Hayden interests in politics and righting social injustice goes back decades. His passion to promote solar energy and environmental protection led Hayden to become the founder and director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center in Culver City. The former state senator and leader of 1960s peace, justice and environmental movements remains a leading voice for ending wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

Hayden has taught numerous courses on social movements, including a course titled, “From the ‘60s to the Obama Generation,” at Pitzer College in Claremont. The reformation of politics through a more participatory democracy has fueled his writing in 20 books, including “Ending the War in Iraq,” “The Long Sixties” and “Inspiring Participatory Democracy: Student Movements from Port Huron to Today.”

For more information about his presentation, contact CSUN’s College of Humanities at (818) 677-3301.