Vol. 17, No. 8	Oct. 23, 1997

Scholar Derrick Bell will speak on Oct. 28

Renowned scholar and author Derrick Bell will speak on "Enhancing Faculty Diversity: A New Look at Elusive Goals," at 3 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 28, in the Trabant University Center Theatre. A reception will be held after his lecture.

Bell has been credited with advancing the study of race and racism as a legal issue and has spent his professional life in various areas of civil rights work involving litigation, administration, teaching and scholarship.

Beginning his career as a Justice Department lawyer, Bell served as dean of the University of Oregon Law School and was the first tenured African-America member of the Harvard Law School faculty. He left Harvard to protest the school's failure to hire and tenure women of color on the faculty and currently serves as professor of law at New York University.

A prolific author, Bell has written Race, Racism and American Law, a standard law school text now in its third edition. He also uses fiction to explore issues of law and race, and these include And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice; Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism; and, most recently, Gospel Choirs: Psalms of Survival for an Alien Land Called Home. Bell also is the author of Confronting Authority: Reflections of an Ardent Protester, a personal reflection of the risks and rewards of individual protests.

The lecture is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Commission to Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity. Seating is limited. To reserve a space, contact Gloria Davis at 831-8735 or by e-mail to gloria.davis@mvs.udel.edu