(Posted January 15, 2007)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Tim Wise, author of the book "White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son," will speak at Juniata College as part of the college's weeklong commemoration of the life and works of Martin Luther King Jr. The convocation lecture is at 4 p.m., Monday, Jan. 15, in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
The talk will be followed by discussion sessions at various times and locations around campus.
Tim Wise, a diversity consultant and author, whose books include "White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son" and Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White," has spoken at more than 400 college campuses across the nation. He also maintains an active consultancy providing anti-racism training to teachers, physicians and medical professionals, as well as to government, military and law enforcement officials.
He has taught courses on racism at Smith College and served as faculty at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he trained journalists to eliminate racial bias in reporting. His newest book, "Disasters, Natural and Otherwise: Race, Class and the Destruction of New Orleans," will be released in 2007.
The four-day schedule of events continues Tuesday, Jan. 16, at noon, with a workshop in Room C-225 in the Dale Hall Wing of Brumbaugh Academic Center on "Civil Rights and Song," taught by David Hsiung, Knox Professor of History, and Russell Shelley, Heckler Associate Professor of Music. The workshop is based on Hsiung's and Shelley's course on how the civil rights movement used songs to popularize and comment on the struggle for civil rights.
The workshop will be followed at 7 p.m. in Room 202 in Good Hall with a showing of the first two hours of the new four-hour documentary film by director Spike Lee called "When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts." The film is structured in four acts, each dealing with a different aspect of the Aug. 29, 2005 disaster that resulted when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, La.
On Wednesday, Jan. 17, the college will sponsor a labyrinth in Sill Board Room in the von Liebig Center for Science. Visitors are free to walk the labyrinth at any time from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. David Witkovsky, campus chaplain, will conduct workshops on the labyrinth at 8 a.m., noon and 4 p.m. in the board room.
At 7 p.m., the second part of Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke" will be shown in 202 Good Hall.
On Thursday, Jan. 18, Paula Martin, assistant provost and professor of environmental science, will host a brown-bag lunch to discuss "When the Levees Broke" at noon in Unity House. The last event of the week is a concert by Tom Chapin, a renowned folksinger, at 7:30 p.m. in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.