ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan, on Nov. 19, will host a live interactive video conference, titled “Race Relations in Higher Education: A Prescription for Empowerment and Progress,” featuring some of the nation’s leading experts on race relations in American colleges and universities.

The video-conference will begin at 1 p.m. in Room 1210, Chemistry Building.

Discussion topics will include “how to successfully anticipate and overcome challenges to affirmative action and diversity programs”; “building effective and influential campus-community coalitions that can get results”; “avoiding the ‘divide and conquer’ trap along racial and gender lines”; “how to move from a defensive to an offensive position on affirmative action, diversity and multiculturalism”; and “the answers and solutions to the diversity issues you face.”

The video-conference will feature:

Christopher Edley Jr., professor of law, Harvard University, who served as special counsel to President Clinton and director of the White House review of affirmative action. He is founding co-director of the Civil Rights Project and also is senior adviser to President Clinton’s Initiative on Race Relations.

Sumi Cho, who teaches at DePaul University, is a campus-community organizer on issues of affirmative action, multicultural education, and sexual harassment. She serves on the Board of Governors for the Society of Law Teachers, which has undertaken a multi-year campaign to affirm diversity and the legitimacy of race and gender-based conscious admissions criteria in legal education.

Juan Francisco Lara, director of the Center for Educational Partnerships and assistant vice chancellor, enrollment services, University of California-Irvine.

Katya Gibel Azoulay, assistant professor in anthropology and chair of the Americana Studies Concentration at Grinnell College.

Stanley Fish, professor of English at Duke University, also holds an appointment in the School of Law there. He has also taught at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of California-Berkeley.

“We are hoping that many of our academic units will encourage their students to attend and use the video-conference as an addition in their classes and for follow-up discussion,” said John Matlock, U-M assistant vice provost for academic and multicultural affairs and director of the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives.

The video-conference is sponsored by several U-M units. For further information, call (313) 936-1055.

Center for Educational PartnershipsKatya Gibel AzoulayStanley FishOffice of Academic Multicultural InitiativesU-M News and Information Services