Videoconference to Explore Racial Issues

A five-member panel of minority strategists will discuss race relations at an interactive videoconference at Cal State Northridge on Wednesday.

Panelists will discuss affirmative action and diversity programs, how to build campus and community coalitions, and racial and gender issues at the event, entitled “Race Relations in Higher Education: A Prescription for Empowerment and Progress.” The forum is sponsored by Black Issues in Higher Education, a national education magazine.

“The conference tries to take what many people feel is an unfortunate situation and try to figure out ways to continue to diversify our faculty, staff and student body in a different environment,” said Jeanette Mann, special assistant to CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson for the Office of Equity and Diversity.

“We hope that something positive can come out of it,” Mann said.

Among the panelists is Christopher Edley Jr., professor of law at Harvard University. Edley served as special counsel to President Clinton and directed the White House review of affirmative action. He is also the founding co-director of the Civil Rights Project, a recently launched policy study center at Harvard.

The other panelists are Sumi Cho, who teaches courses on race and racism at DePaul University; Juan Francisco Lara, director of the Center for Educational Partnership at UC Irvine; Katya Gibel Azoulay, chairman of the African studies concentration at Grinnell College; and Stanley Fish, professor of English at Duke University.

The conference, which will be transmitted nationwide, is open to the public and will be held from 10 a.m. to noon in Oviatt Library, Room 1. For more information, call (818) 677-2077.