A reminder to the UTC community, Ward Connerly, chairman of the American
Civil Rights Institute will speak in the Burkett Miller Distinguished
Lecture Series Thursday, October 4, at noon in Roland Hayes Hall on
"Affirmative Action.”  Dr. Vicki Petzko, Associate Professor of
Education at the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga, will critique
Mr. Connerly’s presentation.

Connerly gained national attention as an outspoken advocate of equal
opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, sex, or ethnic
background when, as a member of the University of California Board of
Regents, he focused the attention of the nation on the University's
race-based system of preferences in its admissions policy and led the
successful struggle for its abolition.  He has been profiled on “60
Minutes,” in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek magazine,
the cover of Parade magazine, and virtually every major newsmagazine in
America.

Last week (August 27th) the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta, ruled
unanimously that the University of Georgia’s privileging of minorities
in its admissions policy is unconstitutional.  The Georgia decision
shifts the national debate to the south and threatens to supersede the
pending landmark cases involving the University of Michigan, whose
undergraduate and law schools received contradictory rulings from
separate federal courts regarding affirmative action-based admissions
policies.  Because the University of Michigan will not receive an
appellate court decision until at least October 23, the University of
Georgia's case,  --should it choose to appeal -- will most likely reach
the Supreme Court first, where Georgia, rather than Michigan, will
elicit a landmark decision either overturning or affirming the Bakke
ruling of 1978.

For complete information on the speaker and speech, visit the list of
upcoming events at the Probasco Chair Homepage:
http://cecasun.utc.edu/~jclark/.