Lani Guinier to speak at URI on multiculturalism and
institutional change
KINGSTON, R.I, -- January 21, 1999 -- Harvard law professor Lani Guinier,s
latest book Lift Every Voice: Turning A Civil Rights Setback Into A New
Vision of Social Justice is recommended reading by popular radio commentator
Don Imus. Now she will deliver her messages at the fifth annual lecture
on multiculturalism at the University of Rhode Island.
Her talk, free and open to the public, will focus on multiculturalism
and institutional change. It will be held Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. in
Edwards Auditorium, Kingston.
Guinier came into public prominence in 1993 when her Yale Law School
classmate, President Bill Clinton, nominated her for assistant attorney
general for civil rights. Before her name was submitted to Congress for
confirmation, Clinton withdrew it in response to heavy political pressure
from the right. In Lift Every Voice, Guinier breaks her silence and
"presents a compelling, wonderfully written account of what really
happened there behind closed doors in the Oval Office, the Justice Department,
and the U.S. Senate. It is a great book," says Imus.
A graduate of Radcliffe College and Yale Law School, Guinier is the first
black woman to hold a tenured professorship at Harvard University Law School.
Guinier co-founded COMMONPLACE, a national non-profit center to connect
citizens, communities, and ideas, and RACE TALKS, a project to encourage
multiracial collaboration and problem-solving.
"Professor Guinier is a leader in proposing creative strategies
for addressing 21st century problems," said Melvin Wade,
director of Multicultural Student Services at URI.
A popular speaker, Guinier is the daughter of a white, Jewish mother
and a black West Indian father who sees herself as a natural bridge between
races and emphatically rejects the polarizing quota-queen image surrounding
her nomination.
Guinier is also the author of The Tyranny of the Majority (1994) and
co-author of Becoming Gentlemen: Women, Law School, and Institutional Change
(1997).
Previous speakers in URI,s Multicultural Series have included bell hooks
(1995), Christopher Edley (1996), Alvin Poussaint (1997), and Cornel West
(1998).
For additional information, please call 401-874-2851.
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