10/21/98
Editors, news directors: For more information on the Kennedy Lecture
Series or to request an interview with Clarence Page, contact Richard
Polen at (740) 593-2200.
ATHENS, Ohio -- A debate between a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the man who led the fight for passage of a controversial California measure banning affirmative action practices in public employment, education and contracting opens the 1998-99 Kennedy Lecture Series at Ohio University. The debate is at 8 p.m. Oct. 28 at Grover Center.
Ohio University alumnus Clarence Page, a national affairs columnist for The Chicago Tribune and winner of a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1989, will join Ward Connerly, former chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative, to present "Fairness for Whom? A Debate on Affirmative Action." Glenn Goodwin, a visiting professor of sociology, will moderate.
"A debate makes for an extremely interesting and provocative format for the Kennedy Lecture Series," said Richard Polen, assistant vice president for university relations and coordinator of the lecture series. "We believe we have the two most eloquent spokesmen on one of the nation's hottest and most controversial topics, affirmative action."
A 1969 graduate of Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Page is known for tackling race and other social issues. He is the author of "Showing My Color: Impolite Essays on Race and Identity" and has been an occasional panelist for "The McLaughlin Group" and a contributor to PBS' "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" and a host of public television documentaries. He also is a panelist for Black Entertainment Television's "Lead Story" and a commentator for National Public Radio's "Weekend Sunday."
Connerly is chairman of the California Governor's Foundation and president and chief executive officer of Connerly & Associates, a Sacramento land-use consulting firm. A governor-appointed regent of the University of California, he chaired the campaign for passage of Proposition 209, a bill that terminated California's race- and gender-based affirmative action practices in public employment, education and contracting. Voters approved Proposition 209 in November 1996.
Also featured as part of this year's Kennedy Lecture Series will be a debate on the death penalty and a lecture on the private lives of public officials.
Attorney and law professor Barry Scheck, best known as the DNA expert on the defense team for the O.J. Simpson murder trial, will square off at 8 p.m. Feb. 11 against Susan Estrich, political adviser, law professor and syndicated columnist, on the topic of capital punishment.
"The Private Lives of Public Officials" will be the topic of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh at 8 p.m. April 21 at First United Methodist Church. Hersh is a former chief investigative reporter for The New York Times and the author of six books, including a best-selling expose about President Kennedy, "The Dark Side of Camelot."
All events are free and open to the public.
-30-