Hacktivism and Black creativity

"This lecture series will cultivate a global community of change-makers that want to build at the intersection of disruptive innovation, radical inclusivity, and social justice."

GHTech's Founder and CEO George Hofstetter, with select members of GHTech and special guest lecturers, will be travelling to 10 different Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the United States to lecture on topics to inspire students and faculty to build at the intersection of disruptive innovation and social justice.

They started things off in Cambridge at the Intellectual Forum on 7 February, before they set off on their tour with the kick-off lecture event for GHTech's Travelling HBCU Lecture Series on Hacktivism and Black Creativity. This event was in partnership with Reddit and the University of Cambridge's ThinkLab.

We heard from special guest lecturers: John Falsetto (visiting fellow from Oxford University), George Hofstetter (CEO at GHTech and UIF Alumni from Stanford University's school), Adrita Mitra (DPhil in Global Imperial History at Oxford University), Tyler Shores (Managing Director at The University of Cambridge's ThinkLab), and Christopher Slowe (Co-Founder and CTO of Reddit).

George Hofstetter said: "I created this lecture series to continue these conversations at the international level in order to connect and organise students, educators, engineers, and creatives from diverse marginalised backgrounds to collaborate and collectively build the future that they want to be a part of; a future absent of white supremacy. This lecture series will cultivate a global community of change-makers that want to build at the intersection of disruptive innovation, radical inclusivity, and social justice.

"I chose to start the lecture series in Cambridge because of the interconnection of the school's historical acclaim and its direct ties to colonialism, as well as my recent personal experiences at a college last August (From Oakland to Oxbridge). It's important to continually question institutions with such historical acclaim through their problematic histories. This series will reflect on the legacy Black and Indigenous oppression has in academic institutions, from Cambridge and the UK to the Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S."

A recording of the talk is available on our College YouTube channel.