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/.