Ex-Klan Leader to Be Invited to CSUN Debate

Rejecting critics’ charges of “mindless political theater,” the Cal State Northridge Student Senate voted Tuesday to invite Senate candidate David Duke, former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, to debate affirmative action with a civil rights leader.

Duke, who will be paid $4,000 for his appearance Sept. 25, will be opposed by Joe Hicks, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Multicultural Collaborative, who will receive $1,000, according to student representatives.

Some of the approximately two dozen students and faculty members who spoke before the vote at the CSUN student union argued that because of his past association with the racist Klan, Duke’s presence would not foster greater understanding of the debate over affirmative action.