Nadine Strossen, a veteran civil rights crusader and president of the American Civil Liberties Union, is scheduled to speak tonight about civil rights as they're applied to minority issues.
Strossen is speaking as part of the weeklong Diversity Days event.
"For Thursday, we wanted a big speaker to draw people to the whole week," said LSA senior Adam Schlifke, one of the program's organizers.
Although Strossen is an expert on civil liberties, she will speak about how racial issues involve constitutional rights, such as Proposition 209 in California.
"There's a lot of injustice that goes along with racial issues," Schlifke said. "Nadine is going to talk a lot about civil liberties in that area."
Strossen is a law professor at New York Law School. She was elected President of the ACLU in 1991.
Strossen has authored numerous books about civil liberties, including "Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights." She was also the editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Greer Dawson Wilson, a professor at the University of Virginia and former president of the Association of College Unions also will speak tonight.
"She does a lot of work with multicultural issues," Schlifke said.
Schlifke said he expects a large turnout at tonight's Diversity Days event.
He said English Prof. Ralph Williams' speech Monday night attracted a few hundred people, but less than 15 people attended Tuesday night's program on gender issues.
Tonight's event begins at 7 p.m. in the Power Center. Admission to all Diversity Days events is free.