The University of Toledo’s Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute and the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition are teaming up to host a fundraiser, “Give True Freedom This Independence Day,” to benefit programs that support victims of human trafficking.

“There are more than 40 million human trafficking victims estimated around the world,” said Dr. Celia Williamson, Distinguished University Professor of social work and director of the UToledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute. “This Fourth of July is Independence Day in the United States, the day we come together to celebrate our freedom. But there are many in our community who don’t have freedom. They are being controlled, abused, battered and sold. It’s time for us to tell the story of what is happening to them and do something about it.”

The event is from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 2, at TolHouse, located at 1447 N. Summit St.

Tickets are $25 for the event that features a silent auction, cash bar and appetizers.

Money raised will enable the organizations to continue the work of identifying and providing comprehensive health and social services that help survivors.

“We will host a community call to action to raise awareness and bring what is happening in the darkness and behind closed doors to light,” Williamson said. “We will also highlight the work being done in the community.”

Together, the UToledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute and the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition have served hundreds of local survivors.

For more information about the event, visit the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition website.

Registration is open for The University of Toledo’s 19th Annual International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference in the fall, which will feature several celebrity speakers.

Actor and musician Corey Feldman; investigative journalist Chris Hansen from Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator”; Kai Zen Bickle, the son of Peter Nygard, a Canadian fashion mogul arrested on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges and accused of sexual assault by women and minors; and Make Sense Labs’ CEO and self-dubbed “First Lady of Crypto” Crystal Rose Pierce are among the presenters to discuss how to keep children safe from predators, legal loopholes used by accused traffickers, and advocacy efforts to change federal laws regarding the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

The Sept. 21-23 virtual conference will feature survivors, researchers, advocates and direct service professionals around the world, with more than 110 live and on-demand webinar sessions.

“Our special guests this year have achieved a level of prominence and celebrity for what they have contributed to the world. They are choosing to collaborate with us to speak out about the issue of abuse, victimization and exploitation of the vulnerable in our society,” said Dr. Celia Williamson, Distinguished University Professor of social work and director of the UToledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute. “We are excited about their compassion for others and to partner with them this year.”

Presenters also include Patte O’Connor, who will recount her experience with Bill Cosby in 1984 and how she found healing after trauma, and Marci Hamilton, the founder and CEO of CHILD USA, the leading national think tank fighting for the civil rights of children.

The deadline to register is Tuesday, Sept. 13. Register and explore the full schedule of presentations on the conference website.

The event has welcomed people from 50 states and 47 countries since it began in 2004 to bring people together to learn and collaborate on research, advocacy, program development and policy legislation.

“Our conference has grown to be the oldest and largest academic conference of its kind in the United States,” said Williamson. “The conference has been the impetus for many research collaborations and has spurred new programming across the globe. We are grateful for the opportunity to provide the platform and coordination necessary to host such an important conference each year.”

Williamson, a world-renown social worker and researcher who works directly with victims and has revolutionized global anti-trafficking efforts, will present 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, about the journey of survivors of child abuse, sexual assault, intimate partner violence or sex trafficking, and how to provide trauma-focused care.

Corey Feldman

Feldman, who rose to superstardom in the 1980s as a young actor in films such as “The Goonies” and “Stand By Me,” will speak at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, about how he believes the Screen Actors Guild needs to add protections for child actors into their by-laws and about the importance of passing state laws to mandate protections for child entertainers.

Hansen, who has exposed more than 400 men attempting to meet children online for sex, and Jeff Jani, CEO of AuthenticID, are scheduled to present 9:40 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, about online predators and AuthenticID, a solution to stop online predators.

Bickle, the recipient of ChildUSA’s 2021 “Voice of the Voiceless” award who played a critical role in the investigation of his father, will present at 9:20 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, about a jurisdiction reform bill and his work with All for Humanity Alliance, an anti-human trafficking campaign that will support nurses in foreign countries to take verified rape kits to be used as evidence in the U.S. after the bill is passed.

Pierce, who also co-founded the shEOS Foundation that provides computer science scholarships to young women, will speak at 9:20 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, about how blockchain can track where money goes for charities and measuring the impact of each dollar.

The International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference also features a separate day devoted to high school students. The National High School Summit is from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20. The virtual workshop is free and focused on educating teenagers about human trafficking, healthy relationships and how they can get involved in their community.

The University of Toledo’s John B. and Lillian E. Neff College of Business and Innovation and the Ohio CPA Foundation are co-hosting the Careers in Professional Accounting Camp, or CPA Camp, for high school students interested in accounting from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 28.

The deadline to register for the free, one-day camp is Friday, June 17. Lunch and a campus tour will be provided.

The career development program is designed for underrepresented high school students including, but not limited to, those who identify as having a disability, LGBTQ+, students of color and the first in their family to attend college.

“The CPA Camp provides an opportunity for us to expose students to the accounting profession and the various career opportunities that exist,” said Dr. Dana Hollie, a professor of accounting and the Alan H. and Karen A. Barry Endowed Professor of Accounting. “The students experience firsthand UToledo’s campus environment, meet faculty and staff, and learn more about various career progression paths in accounting.”

Participants will learn about opportunities in accounting including the kinds of jobs available and salaries; hear from employees from a local accounting company; learn about the differences between corporate and public accounting; gather input from UToledo students and faculty about what college life is like as an accounting major; meet and network with local recruiters and employers; and have the opportunity to earn scholarships.

Sponsors of the event include Huntington, Owens Corning, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, the Accountancy Board of Ohio, Deloitte, Procter & Gamble, Ernst & Young, Plante Moran, Crowe, Clark Schaefer Hackett, PricewaterhouseCoopers, RSM, William Vaughan Company, Rehmann, GBQ, Ingram-White Castle Foundation and the Ohio Society of CPAs.

To register, go to the CPA Camp website.

To mark Title IX’s 50th anniversary, The University of Toledo is hosting a panel discussion from 12:45 to 2 p.m. Thursday, June 23, in the Grogan Room at Savage Arena.

Though registration is closed, members of the media are invited to cover the event, which kicks off a year-long celebration of Title IX’s 50^th anniversary.

A federal law signed on June 23, 1972, Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex or gender in any educational institution that receives federal funding. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

“The University of Toledo and the Title IX Office work to create a campus environment that results in student success, employee advancement and access to opportunities based on individual merit, ability and potential, without fear of sex discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation,” said Vicky Kulicke, UToledo director of Title IX and compliance and Title IX coordinator. “With the 50th anniversary, we want to continue to highlight the importance of federal protections like Title IX. We want folks to think of the 50th anniversary as less of an ‘event’ and more of a dedicated and continuous effort.”

Moderated by Valerie Walston, interim vice president for student affairs, the featured panelists include:

• Malaika Bell, interim executive director for diversity, equity and inclusion;
• Kelly Andrews, senior associate athletic director;
• Karen Bjorkman, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs;
• Vicky Kulicke, director of Title IX and compliance and Title IX coordinator; and
• Kennedy Lovell, student-athlete.

The UToledo Title IX Office and campus partners in the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, UToledo Athletics and Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion have formed a planning committee for a year-long celebration of the historic event.

The University of Toledo Police Department, alongside personnel from The University of Toledo Medical Center, will conduct a training exercise on Tuesday, June 7, to test the University’s response in the event of a violent intruder.

The training exercise will take place from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center on UToledo’s Health Science Campus. It begins with a de-escalation training and will be followed by an active shooter simulation.

“As the recent horrific shootings at a supermarket in New York and an elementary school in Texas have unfortunately demonstrated, these instances continue to occur across the country,” said Jeff Newton, associate vice president of public safety. “While we hope we never need to use these skills, it’s important we continue our regular trainings and preparations to be able to respond to this type of violence. We want to ensure we’re providing the safest environment possible for our students and staff.”

UToledo and UTMC regularly perform tabletop drills and full-scale exercises to test the University’s response to a variety of emergency situations.

The June 7 exercise, planning for which began in February, will specifically test the response of police and emergency room personnel to a shooting that results in multiple casualties.

In addition to evaluating first-responders’ communication, response and scene management, campus safety officials will observe how nurses, students and other hospital personnel use their “run, hide, fight” training in a simulated active shooter event.

The run, hide, fight principles are recommended by the F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security for individuals confronted with an active shooter scenario to run to safety if they can, hide if escape isn’t possible and, as a last resort, fight back.

In-person de-escalation and run, hide, fight training can be requested through the University of Toledo Office of Public Safety. The University also offers the run, hide, fight training via the Safety and Health Training Test Bank, accessible through MyUT.

Signs will be posted that say “UToledo Police Training Event” around the Center for Creative Education. In the event of a real emergency, the public address and UT Alert systems would be activated to inform the campus community that a dangerous situation is occurring and to stay clear.

To learn what to do in the event of an emergency and for more information on the University’s emergency preparedness plans and procedures, visit emergency.utoledo.edu.