Rethinking Race and Gender

Lani Guinier, the Harvard Law professor who became a household name in the mid-1990s amid a political firestorm over her nomination to head a civil rights post, will be the second guest brought to a local stage by the newly formed West Michigan Women's Studies Council.

Guinier will speak on 'Rethinking Race and Gender' at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 1, at the St. Cecilia Music Society, 24 Ransom St. NE in downtown Grand Rapids. Her presentation is free and open to the public.

Guinier rocketed into the public eye in 1993 when former President Bill Clinton nominated her to lead the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and the nomination was summarily withdrawn amidst heated political wrangling and mistaken media portrayals of Guinier, who is African American, as a racial isolationist and a 'quota queen.'

Since then, Guinier has continued to work closely with issues related to race and gender and in 1998 wrote the bestseller 'Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice,' a look at where civil rights have been and are headed. The book also reflects on her experiences in 1993. Guinier is also co-author of the recently published 'The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy.'

Guinier's lecture is the second event presented by the West Michigan Women's Studies Council, a consortium of professionals from six area colleges and universities formed in 2001 to increase awareness of gender issues and to work together on programs that enhance the lives of women in West Michigan. The council consists of representatives from Aquinas, Calvin, and Hope colleges, Grand Rapids Community College, Davenport University, and Grand Valley State University. The lecture series is sponsored by the Nokomis Foundation.

'Guinier has a challenging yet educating perspective on women's rights and how those rights should be expressed in today's diverse society,' says Judy Whipps, vice-president of WMWSC and associate professor of philosophy at Grand Valley State University. 'We expect she will draw lots of students from our campuses.'

Susan Haworth-Hoeppner, director of the Jane Hibbard Idema Women's Studies Center at Aquinas College and president of the WMWSC, notes that Guinier's expertise covers a wide variety of topics.

'She weaves the fundamental elements of race, class and gender into an analysis of policy,' says Haworth-Hoeppner. 'This will be an excellent opportunity for those involved in race issues, such as racism institutes and civil rights groups, to learn more about these important issues.'

Guinier has Michigan connections as well. From 1974-76 she served as judge's clerk for the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan, and then as the juvenile court referee in Wayne County. In 1977 she began working in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, moving from 1981-88 to assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York City.