A panel of experts will address proponents’ and opponents’ views of affirmative action and how to ensure equal access to education Feb. 7 (Friday) at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Hesburgh Library at the University of Notre Dame.p. Participating on the panel are Rev. Jamal Harrison Bryant, National Youth and College Director of the NAACP; Ward Connerly, a member of the University of California board of regents; and Sharon O’Brien, associate professor and chair of government and international studies at Notre Dame.p. Bryant was appointed to his NAACP position at age 25 by Kweisi Mfume. He is a distinguished graduate of Morehouse College and has received a number of oratory awards, including the John Locke Oratorical Award. He worked in Johannesburg, South Africa, on voter education in 1994. With the NAACP he works to register voters on historically black college campuses. He emphasizes empowerment of young African-Americans politically, socially and personally.p. Connerly is president and chief executive officer of Connerly&Assoc. Inc., a Sacramento-based land use planning and association management consulting firm. As a member of the University of California board of regents, he led the effort to eliminate consideration of race, gender and ethnic origin in the admissions, contracting and employment activities of the university system. He also has served as statewide chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative.p. O’Brien, a member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1979, also is a fellow of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and a former chair of affirmative action at the University. She is an expert on American Indian tribal governments, the international protection of human rights and the legal protection of cultural rights in the United States.
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