Cornel West to headline USI's Mandela Social Justice Day

The University of Southern Indiana will host Dr. Cornel West, a prominent philosopher, academic, social activist, author and public intellectual as part of its Mandela Social Justice Day. West will speak at 6 p.m. Wednesday, October 12 in Carter Hall located in University Center West on the USI campus. His presentation, "The Profound Desire for Justice," will be free and open to the public.

West is a professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary and professor emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Yale University, Harvard University and the University of Paris. He is a prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has written over 20 books and has edited 13, including Race Matters, Democracy Matters, his memoir Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, and his most recent releases Black Prophetic Fire and Radical King.

The bulk of his work focuses on the role of race, gender and class in American Society and the means by which people act and react to their conditioning.

West is a frequent guest on Real Time with Bill Maher and has made appearances on The Colbert Report, CNN, C-Span and Democracy Now. He also has appeared in over 25 documentaries and films including The Matrix trilogy, Examined Life, Call & Response, Sidewalk and Stand. West has made three spoken word albums in collaboration with Prince, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, KRS-One and the late Gerald Levert, and his spoken word interludes have been featured on albums by Terence Blanchard, The Cornel West Theory, Raheem DeVaughn and Bootsy Collins. West earned a bachelor's degree in Near Eastern languages and literature from Harvard University and both a master's degree and a doctorate in philosophy from Princeton University.

In other Mandela Social Justice Day events, the USI Multicultural Center will host a screening of Cracking the Code:  The System of Racial Inequality and a subsequent discussion at 11 a.m. in University Center Room 2217. Additionally, two exhibits from the Evansville African American Museum on race and civil rights will be on display beginning at 2 p.m. outside of Carter Hall. Both events are free and open to the public.

All events are sponsored by the Nelson Mandela Social Justice Commemoration Committee, the Evansville African American Museum, and the following USI offices and departments: Office of the Provost, College of Liberal Arts, Romain College of Business, Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Multicultural Center, Housing and Residence Life, and Counseling Center.

For more information, contact Dr. Sakina Hughes, assistant professor of history at shughes1@usi.edu or 812-465-1224.