Actor Danny Glover and Social Justice Activist Christine Chavez Headline National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education

SAN FRANCISCO, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Immigration. Undocumented college students and the Dream Act. Anti-affirmative action. White privilege. Human rights and torture. More than 2,200 participants from all corners of the country and world will gather May 29 - June 2 in San Francisco to discuss these pressing social issues and suggest solutions during the 20th annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE).

Actor and activist Danny Glover will present a session on human rights and torture. Christine Chavez, granddaughter of Cesar Chavez, has a made a lifetime commitment to public service, civil rights and the labor movement. She will lead a session covering a number of topics stemming from labor relations and her political involvement in the fight to protect civil rights.

NCORE, which is the largest and most comprehensive national forum on issues of race and ethnicity in American higher education, draws participants including senior administrative officers of colleges and universities; professionals from virtually all campus activity/service areas; student leaders; representatives of state and national institutes, associations, agencies and foundations; and representatives of community-based agencies and organizations. Participants come from all 50 states, as well as from around the globe.

An event that began as a forum to discuss black and white race issues, NCORE has evolved to include diversity discussion of all minority or underrepresented groups, while still focusing on solutions to race issues that have continued since its inception. NCORE is part of University of Oklahoma Outreach.

In addition to Glover and Chavez, this year's conference features a group of nationally recognized speakers and presenters, including:

  -- Sherman Alexie, author/poet

  -- Ronald Takaki, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus from University of
     California-Berkeley

  -- Lani Guinier, author and legal professor at Harvard Law School, and
     former Clinton nominee to head the Civil Rights Division of the
     Department of Justice

  Other highlights include:

  -- The Institute on Promoting Campus Diversity in the Wake of Supreme
     Court Decisions and State Ballot Initiatives - The University of
     Michigan experience

  -- Immigration and Higher Education: The Dream Act and State Initiatives
     Corporate and Academic Diversity, featuring the director of diversity
     and inclusion for Microsoft Corporation and vice president of diversity
     relations for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

  Conference details:

  WHO:   National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE)

  WHAT:  Largest and most comprehensive forum on issues of race and
         ethnicity in higher education

  WHEN:  May 29 - June 2, 2007

  WHERE: Hilton San Francisco, 333 O'Farrell Street

For more information visit the Web site: http://ncore.ou.edu/, or contact Susan Grossman, (405) 325-9310 or sgrossman@ou.edu.