Appearing with Ward Connerly will be Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington Bureau; Linda Chavez, chair of the Center for Equal Opportunity and analyst for FOX News; and Mark Fancher, attorney for ACLU of Michigan.
The event on Wednesday, October 18, from 4-6 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center, Grand River Room, is open to media coverage. Part of the Professionals of Color Lecture Series, it is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs; it's free and open to the public. A sign language interpreter will be available.
It will mark one of Connerly's first appearances in West Michigan. The California businessman is founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national nonprofit organization designed to educate the public about racial and gender preferences. Connerly has a long history of advocating against racial preferences; in the early 1990s as a University of California regent, he led a push to end the university's system of using race as a factor in admissions. He also led successful state campaigns to end affirmative action policies in California and Washington.
Through his work for the NAACP, Shelton is responsible for advocating for the organization at the federal level. He has lobbied for social issues such as affirmative action, equal employment protection, stopping gun violence, ending racial profiling, access to comprehensive healthcare and federal sentencing reform. He serves on numerous nationals boards including Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Center for Democratic Renewal, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and Congressional Black Caucus Institute.
Chavez's organization, the Center for Equal Opportunity, supports research on issues related to race, ethnicity and assimilation. She writes a syndicated weekly newspaper column and has been appointed to a number of positions, most recently as chair of the National Commission on Migrant Education.
As an attorney for the Racial Justice Project of the ACLU of Michigan, Fancher addresses attacks on affirmative action, racial discrimination and juvenile sentencing issues. He held a teaching position at the University of Michigan Law School and a staff position for the State Bar of Michigan.
For more information, call the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (616) 331-2177.
Media note: Photos of the participants are available by calling the News and Information Services Office at (616) 331-2221.
