Former Civil Rights head to speak at Katrina benefit hosted by SU’s African American Greek organizations

Former Civil Rights head to speak at Katrina benefit hosted by SU’s African American Greek organizationsApril 19, 2006SU News ServicesSUnews@syr.edu

Hurricane Katrina devastated thousands of lives and highlighted the plight shared by the millions of Americans who face class and race injustice. In honor of the survivors, and to help Katrina-displaced families in Central New York, the group governing Syracuse University’s historically African American fraternities and sororities has organized the “Lest We Forget” Hurricane Katrina Survivors Benefit Dinner. On Thursday, April 20 at 6 p.m., in the Goldstein Auditorium of the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center, the SU chapter of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) will host the event, which will feature a keynote address by Mary Frances Berry, former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Tickets are $20 for floor seats with dinner and $7 for balcony seats without dinner. They are available at the Schine Box Office, which can be reached at 443-4517. The proceeds will be donated to the SU-Dunbar Katrina Survivors Fund, a collaboration between SU and the Dunbar Association to help Gulf Coast residents forced by last year’s hurricanes to move to Central New York. Co-sponsors include the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) and Office of Greek Life and Experiential Learning, which are principal units of SU’s Division of Student Affairs.

In her address, Berry will discuss the issues of social justice and race relations that are woven through the stories of Katrina survivors and have marked her distinguished career in public service. From 1980-2004, she was a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and from 1993-2004 served as chair. She has also served as the assistant secretary for education in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and as provost of the University of Maryland and chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Since 1987, she has been the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania.

“This natural disaster brought to light the unnatural calamities of structural injustice that remain as challenges to the United States,” says Paul M. Buckley, associate director of OMA and faculty advisor to NPHC. “NPHC has historically been at the forefront of these kinds of civil rights and humanitarian causes, and NPHC students are taking a lead role in addressing these issues in the Central New York community.”

For more information, call 443-9676, or e-mail pmbuckle@syr.edu.