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Social rights activist Grace Boggs speaks Wednesday

Nov. 11, 2005

KALAMAZOO--Grace Boggs, who became involved in the black power movement and founded the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership in 1995 in Detroit, will give her views on the nation's education system at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, in the East Ballroom of the Bernhard Center at Western Michigan University.

Boggs' presentation is titled "The Schools Crisis: Danger and Opportunity." The Boggs Center supports and continues the work of Boggs and her activist husband, Jimmy. Its programs include Freedom Schooling, which is guided by the belief that student involvement in community-building activities is vital to the development of critical thinking, youth empowerment and community revitalization.

The nearly 50 percent dropout rate of students of color has been called "the major social justice issue of our time." Boggs, who taught in Detroit Public Schools, will argue that it is also an opportunity and a challenge to create more activist and participatory forms of education.

Boggs' appearance is presented by the WMU Center for the Study of Ethics in Society and is co-sponsored by WMU's GEAR UP program, known as MERC--The Midwest Educational Reform Consortium--and by the College of Education.

Media contact: Cheryl Roland, (269) 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

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