Celebrating its 40th anniversary, UMSU Celebration Week will run from Jan.25-29 at the Fort Garry campus and from Jan.20-22 at Bannatyne.

As with previous years, Celebration Week will host a number of different speakers with this year’s presentation topics to include feminism, climate change, sex and relationship advice as well as discrimination.

“Celebration Week has reached 40 years young, and we have seen many great speakers come to campus throughout the years to speak about their experiences,” said UMSU president Sid Rashid in a recent press release.

“It is a great opportunity for students and the local community to come together and listen to some very interesting speakers outside the classroom.”

This year’s speakers include Jessica Valenti, Dan Savage, Gwynne Dyer and Rubin Carter.
Valenti is a published author and founder of Feministing.com as well as a women’s rights activist. She has been a guest on The Colbert Report and is a co-author of the feminist anthology Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape.

Savage delivers sex advice in his internationally syndicated column “Savage Love.” Savage is also a regular contributor to The New York Times and the public radio program This American Life.

Dyer has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist and broadcaster. Over 175 papers in 45 countries publish his twice-weekly column on international affairs. His new book Climate Wars looks at the geo-political implications of large-scale climate change.

Carter, a former boxer known as Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, writer and human rights activist, has spent a number of years defending innocent people from wrongful convictions.

During Celebration Week, students will also be able to enjoy free food and coffee in the mornings on both campuses.

“Celebrating our 40th year of Celebration Week is a key milestone for past, current, and future students of the University of Manitoba. Throughout the years we’ve seen many great acts and speakers such as Rob Corddry, Sue Johanson and David Suzuki, and students will once again be captivated by entertaining and inspiring speakers, just as their peers have been over the past four decades,” said Rashid.