ISSUED: 27 October 2016
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Office of Student Affairs, Department of Sociology and Geography, and the Eastern Panhandle Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. have partnered with the Malala Fund to present the 2015 documentary “He Named Me Malala” on Saturday, November 5, at 4:30 p.m. in the Student Center Storer Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.
Following the screening, Dr. Chiquita Howard-Bostic, assistant professor of sociology and chair of the Department of Sociology and Geography, will moderate a panel discussion on the importance of educating young girls. Delta Sigma Theta has arraigned for a diverse panel of youth and adults to participate in the panel discussion.
“This event is dynamic in its effort to address the question—whose responsibility is it to confront violence, education, and the suppression of thought?” Bostic said. “The documentary uncovers a vision about various ways to misuse religion in an effort to slaughter, abuse, and institute fear around the world.”
“He Named Me Malala” is a documentary film produced by Davis Guggenheim about Pakistani education activist, Malala Yousafzai. The film offers an intimate portrait of Malala, her family, and their fight for the right of girls everywhere to go to school. Malala’s father, Ziauddin, operated a school, and she was an outspoken advocate for girls’ education in the Swat Valley of Pakistan.
When she was 15, Taliban gunmen entered the school bus Malala and her friends were riding and shot her in the head, neck, and shoulders. The incident sparked international outrage and propelled Malala into the role of an advocate for girls’ education worldwide. In October 2014, at age 19, Malala and Indian children’s rights advocate Kailash Satyarthi received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2013, Malala and her father established the Malala Fund to advocate for the more than 130 million girls worldwide who do not attend school.
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