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George Vlahakis
IU Media Relations
gvlahaki@indiana.edu
812-855-0846

Bill Shipton
Residential Programs and Services
shiptonw@indiana.edu
812-855-1764

Hana Ros
Union Board
lecture@indiana.edu
812-855-4682

Last modified: Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Tim Wise, anti-racism activist, to speak at IU on Oct. 10

Author of 'White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son'

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Division of Residential Programs and Services and Union Board will present Tim Wise, a prominent anti-racist writer and activist, in a series of campus events Oct. 10 and 11(Wednesday-Thursday).

The public is invited to a free lecture, "'White Privilege' and Social Activism," at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St. He will sign copies of his book White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son (Soft Skull Press, 2004) after the presentation.

In addition to the public event, Wise also will conduct development workshops with student leaders and RPS staff during his visit.

Tim Wise

Tim Wise

Wise has spoken in 48 states and at more than 400 college campuses. He has trained teachers as well as those in corporate, government, media and law enforcement organizations on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions. He served as a consultant for plaintiff's attorneys in federal discrimination cases in New York and Washington state.

In 2005, Wise served as an adjunct faculty member at the Smith College School of Social Work, where he co-taught a master's level course on racism in the United States. From 1999 to 2003, he was an adviser to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute. In the early 1990s, he was associate director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, the largest of the many groups responsible for the political defeat of neo-Nazi David Duke.

He was the recipient of the 2002 National Youth Advocacy Coalition's Social Justice Impact Award, in recognition of his contributions to the struggle for equality, as well as the 2001 British Diversity Award for best feature column on race and diversity issues.

In addition to White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, Wise is the author of Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Routledge). He has contributed essays to a dozen books and anthologies, and he today is the Race and Ethnicity Editor for LiP Magazine. His bi-monthly columns are distributed as part of the ZNet Commentary Program, a web service that disseminates essays by prominent activists and educators.

Wise has a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Tulane University, where his anti-apartheid work received international attention. He received training in methods for combating racism from the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond in New Orleans.