Iowa State University


Inside Iowa State
March 3, 2000

Conference today tackles race issues

by Linda Charles
The Iowa State community is exploring race and ethnicity issues during a one-day conference at the Memorial Union Friday, March 3.

The Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity is free and open to faculty, staff and students. Participants will explore issues such as "understanding and resolving racial conflict on campus" and "a prototype for integrating microcultures into the curriculum."

Workshops will be held all day in the Memorial Union, with multi-cultural vendors set up in the South Ballroom from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The conference ends at 3:30 p.m.

Lunch is $10 on a space available basis. The keynote luncheon speaker is Fred Gray, who handled many significant civil rights cases in Alabama. He was the first lawyer on the Rosa Parks case. Parks sparked a boycott of public buses after she refused to move to the back of a Montgomery, Ala., bus in 1955. Gray also was an attorney for Martin Luther King Jr.

During his career, Gray attacked segregation in restaurants, schools, housing, professional associations, parks and recreational facilities, jails and law enforcement. He has written two books, The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: The Real Story and Beyondand Bus Ride to Justice.

In June 1999, a group of ISU faculty, staff and students attended the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity, designed to help colleges and universities create inclusive environments and expand educational access and success by traditionally under-represented populations. Information gathered at the national conference will be shared during the Iowa State conference.

On-site registration will be avail-able all day in the South Ballroom. For more information, call 4-6338.

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Rev ised 03/02/00