Consumer advocate Nader to speak at U.

Ralph Nader, America's premier consumer watchdog, will speak at 8 p.m. tonight in the University Museum's Harrison Auditorium. The speech, entitled "Protecting the Unprotected," is sponsored by Connaissance. Nader first burst onto the national scene when his book Unsafe at Any Speed exposed the Chevrolet Corvair as a dangerous car. Since then, Nader and groups he has worked with have been instrumental players in a number of public policy areas, influencing the Environmental Protection Agency, auto safety legislation, insurance rates, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. "We thought that [Nader] would appeal to a broad base of students," said College senior Richard Smith, chairperson of Connaissance. "[The issues] deal with everyone on campus because everyone is a consumer." More recently, Nader has entered investigations into the nuclear power industry and the U.S. Postal Service. In addition, he has looked into problems with the Educational Testing Service, which has brought the SATs to generations of college-bound students. Nader graduated in 1955 from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and later earned his law degree at Harvard University. In recent years, Connaissance has brought such luminaries as Alan Derschowitz and Kurt Vonnegut to speak at the University. According to Smith, Connaissance is an organization devoted to bringing speakers to campus. Traditionally, these have included politicians, authors, and media figures.