Conference to focus on students of color
as scholars, activists, truth-tellers

"Yellow Men Can't Jump: Defining Community through Japanese American Basketball Leagues" and "Lyrical Protests: Benjamin's Concept of Change and the Critical Potential of Rap" are two of many presentations scheduled for the annual Students of Color of Rackham (SCOR) national conference.

The event, titled "Bearing Witness: Students of Color as Scholars, Activists, and Truth-tellers" will be held Feb. 9-10 at the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies.

Now in its 16th year, the conference is organized by U-M graduate students of color and is a national interdisciplinary gathering organizers say is as diverse and provocative as the scholarship that will be presented.

A roster of internationally renowned speakers will include:

• Maria Eschaveste, co-founder of Nueva Vista Group and former deputy chief of staff for President Clinton;

• Haunani Kay-Trask, a well-known activist for indigenous rights and professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii; and

• Award-winning journalist Michele Montas, chief of the French Language Unit at the United Nations, who is featured in Jonathan Demme's documentary, "The Agronomist."

"This year's theme highlights the unique role that people of color have historically played within the academy as well as society at large," says SCOR President Sharon Lee. "Scholars of color are well-positioned to speak critical truths to the urgent concerns of our local and global communities. While academic freedom is increasingly under attack, we offer the conference as a collaborative space for the cultivation of these truths."

Graduate students who will attend and present work at the conference hail from
U-M, Arizona State University, Bowling Green State University, Howard University, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rice University, Syracuse University, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of Missouri-Columbia and Virginia Tech, among others.

For more details and registration information for the free event, visit: www.umich.edu/~scorweb/Conference.html or e-mail the SCOR Conference Committee at umscor@ctools.umich.edu.

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