Guinier plans national discussion

Can we talk? Law Professor Lani Guinier thinks so, and to further this goal on a national level with respect to the issue of race, she has created a new non-profit center called Commonplace. One of Commonplace's first projects will be a "National Conversation on Race" to be held on campus in October 1995, Guinier said. Funding for this symposium -- which will bring together "media decision-makers, civil rights advocates and public policy experts" -- will be provided in part by an Annenberg Public Policy Grant. Additional resources may be contributed by the National Endowment for the Humanities, headed by former University President Sheldon Hackney. Guinier said she welcomes topic suggestions for the National Conversation. "It's going to be experiential and experimental," she said."We are struggling to find out what makes a successful conversation." Guinier, who was nominated by President Clinton to serve as assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights in 1993, was removed from consideration after questions surfaced about her position on minority voting rights and affirmative action. She said the idea of Commonplace grew out of her experience both as a litigator for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and during the period of her nomination in Washington. "The experience as a litigator basically suggested to me that much of the conversation about civil rights and racial justice -- which had been taking place in the context of legal cases -- was either too technical, too abstract or too complicated for most people to understand," Guinier said. She added that because political discourse has become more polarized in recent years, American voters are now "angry and alienated," making the creation of an alternative space for learning about and engaging in conversations a necessity. "[Commonplace] is an effort to bring academics and journalists together so that academics can learn how to be more clear, and journalists can learn to appreciate the nuance in complex arguments?to learn how to paraphrase accurately what someone else is saying rather than just parody it," Guinier said. English graduate student Cheryl Butler said she will be working on the video component of the National Conversation, entitled "Different Voices, Common Talk." This segment of the project will involve a multi-racial group of community members brought together to talk about a salient race issue, she added. "All of us, no matter what racial or cultural groups we belong to, are always internalizing the dominant belief system," Butler said, adding that this process is ultimately harmful and needs to be addressed. Psychology graduate student Esteban Cardemil said the National Conversation should be a "first step" in changing the way Americans approach the subject of race and race issues. Andrew ShattZ, also a Psychology graduate student, agreed. "Basically, what the conference is about is to try and look at new ways to talk about racial issues, because it is clear that the old ways have not worked so well," he said."It's very possible that members of different races have different ways of explaining the same event, [and these] different histories are a stumbling block to successful communication."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.