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Date 4-24-06
Contact Angela Kilcrease (601) 266-4988
Hattiesburg—The
newly instituted Center for Human Rights and Civil Liberties at
the University of Southern Mississippi will host its inaugural public
conference April 28-29 on the Hattiesburg campus.
“Rights and
the Role of Activism: A Conference on Human Rights” will feature
paper presentations by faculty and students from across the United
States and several foreign countries, a civil rights bus tour and
discussion with activists of the 1960s, and workshops on activism.
“The Center
was founded to advance the principle of ‘liberty and justice for
all,’” said Dr. Bob Press, professor of political science at Southern
Miss and faculty sponsor. “It’s not only designed to serve the university
and broader communities, but it fosters a collaboration with community
partners on projects that address problems of social justice and
public policy.”
Through its
educational activities, like the upcoming Human Rights Conference
and the now approved human rights minor, the Center’s activities
help prepare students to translate classroom knowledge into action
in a variety of careers in the public and private sectors.
A board of Southern
Miss faculty advisors, including Press, Dr. Sam Bruton, Dr. Kate
Green, Dr. Kimberley Davis, Joseph Bohanon, and Dr. William Powell,
among others, support and advise the predominately student-run center.
Rex Gandy, dean
of the College of Science and Technology serves as chair of the
Center’s advisory board, with support from Dr Elliott Pood, dean
of the College of Arts and Letters; Dr. Ken Panton, dean of the
Honors College; Provost Dr. Jay Grimes; and President Shelby Thames.
“The Center
provides a forum in which to bring together people of different
backgrounds to engage in a dialogue that advances social justice
and democratic values,” Press said. “We believe this Center, through
effective teaching, productive scholarship, and service to a variety
of constituents, will gain recognition as one of the most innovative
programs in the southeastern United States.”
Although this
is the Center’s first public conference, it has already sponsored
numerous activities on campus, including a visit by two African-American
pilots of the Tuskegee Squadron from World War II; a forum for awareness
of genocide; and initiation of recent efforts to clear the name
of Clyde Kennard, the first African-American who tried to enroll
at Southern Miss.
The Center also
has begun work with several low-income neighborhoods in Hattiesburg
on drug addiction counseling, as well as an after-school cultural
program.
The Human Rights
Conference opens with a bus tour to downtown Hattiesburg to meet
with civil rights activists from the Freedom Summer (1964) era.
The remainder of the two-day conference will be made up of panels,
workshops and paper presentations.
Keynote speaker
Kent C. Brokenshire, deputy director of the Office of Human Rights
in the U. S. Department of State, will speak at 2 p.m., Saturday,
at Gonzales Auditorium in the Liberal Arts Building on Pearl Street.
“It’s a great
opportunity to meet and network with other activists and scholars,”
said Monika Feher, a Hungarian international student member of the
planning committee. “The content committee was loaded with responses
to the call for papers, even from other countries like Belgium,
Nepal, and India.”
The call for
papers for the conference was issued in February, and the response
was a windfall for student conference coordinators Katrell Nash
of Severn, Md., and Laura Hosman of Hattiesburg. “We reviewed the
abstracts for months before finalizing the panel presentations,”
Nash said. “I am confident our final product is impressive and has
a lot to offer our panelists as well as our attendees.”
Most activities
will be held at the LAB. Admission is $10 at the door for the general
public and $5 for Southern Miss students with ID. Registration begins
at 9 a.m., Friday, in the lobby.
For more information,
go to www.usm.edu/humanrights
or call 601.266.4172.
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