3 Prop. 209-Related Events Are Planned

Cal State Northridge and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith are using the weeks before election day to hold a trio of events related to Proposition 209.

Today at CSUN, a discussion of the anti-affirmative action initiative will be held in a new “open forum area” in the Sierra Quad. The school’s Campus Planning Board last month gave tentative approval to the space.

A ceremony inaugurating the open forum area is scheduled for noon, with a forum on 209 to follow at 1 p.m. Professors of speech communications, political science, religion, philosophy and economics as well as an assistant basketball coach are expected to participate.

For information on the open forum area or today’s program, call (818) 677-2393.

Also today, the Anti-Defamation League will hold a discussion titled “David Duke Came to Town . . . Why Do We Care?” The event, which will be begin at 7:15 p.m. at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, will center on Duke’s controversial participation in a Proposition 209 debate held last month at CSUN.

The panel will consist of David Horowitz, president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture; Joe Mandel, vice chancellor of legal affairs at UCLA; Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor, and Ramona Ripston, executive director of the Southern California ACLU.

Valley Beth Shalom is at 15739 Ventura Blvd. Call (818) 788-6000 for details.

Next week, CSUN will host a Halloween panel called “Proposition 209: Trick or Treat?” at the Student Union. State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), a supporter of the initiative, and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, who opposes it, will debate its possible effects on women. Wright and Goldberg will be joined in the debate by several professors. For more information, call CSUN at (818) 677-2077.