(Cleve Jones | Photo courtesy of COCC)
Central Oregon Community College’s 18th annual Season for Nonviolence — with free community events being held mid-January through early April — kicks off with a keynote talk by 2SLGBTQIA+ activist Cleve Jones at 6:30pm on Tuesday, January 20, at the Tower Theatre.
A human rights advocate, author and lecturer, Jones will share his 50-year personal and political journey to becoming a hero for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Beginning with the electrifying atmosphere of San Francisco in the 1970s, Jones will talk about the Gay Liberation Movement, his mentorship with legendary Harvey Milk, the terrifying early years of the AIDS pandemic and his own rise to the forefront of activism. Jones cofounded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in 1983 and established the AIDS Memorial Quilt, one of the world’s largest community arts projects.
Visit cocc.edu/snv to register for this and other free 2026 Season for Nonviolence events. Upcoming programs include a February 24 presentation, Everyday Revolution: Building a World of Respect, Dignity and Liberation, by New York Times-bestselling author and activist Ijeoma Oluo, along with six community book conversations centered on her book Be a Revolution. The full Season for Nonviolence lineup and additional details will be announced in early January.
Commemorated across the globe, the Season for Nonviolence was founded in 1998 by Arun Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi’s grandson, as a yearly celebration of the philosophies and lives of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., honoring their vision for an empowered, nonviolent world.
COCC’s Season for Nonviolence is presented by the office of diversity and inclusion and the COCC Foundation’s Nancy R. Chandler Lecture Series. For more information, contact Christy Walker, dean of equity and well-being, at 541-383-7412 or cwalker2@cocc.edu, or Charlotte Gilbride, coordinator of the Nancy R. Chandler Lecture Series, at 541-383-7257 or cgilbride@cocc.edu.
Sponsors for COCC’s Season for Nonviolence include First Story, Brooks Resources, the Casey Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, the Associated Students of COCC, Cascades Academy and the Tower Theatre.
