Nashville Intercollegiate Activism Conference

The Vanderbilt Political Review will be hosting the first annual Nashville Intercollegiate Activism Conference (NIAC) in conjunction with Vanderbilt Student Government, The Commons, and Vanderbilt LEAD on February 27, 2010. The event will take place at the Commons Center on Peabody campus from 11am to 6pm. The conference will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Nashville Civil Rights sit-ins with a professors panel, a student leaders panel, and a political candidate and activist panel. The panels will examine how students were able to defeat segregation as well as how students can be involved in social change today. The capstone of the conference will be a 5pm keynote address by John Siegenthaler, former publisher of The Tennessean, advisor to Robert F. Kennedy, and respected advocate for the Civil Rights movement in Nashville.

Gubernatorial candidates Zach Wamp, Kim McMillan, and Jim Kyle will be in attendance to speak about their views of student activism, as well as congressional candidates Roy Herron, Patrick Miranda, JIm Tracy, and Diane Black. Professors Klint Alexander of Vanderbilt Law School, Brian Russell of Tennessee State University, and Linda Peek Schacht of Lipscomb University will form a panel examining the future of student activism. The Political Activism Fair will occur from 12pm to 3pm and will allow various candidates and their representatives to recruit interested students from around Nashville to volunteer on campaigns.

The Vanderbilt Political Review is a non-partisan political journal run entirely by Vanderbilt undergraduate students. Participating organizations include the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature, Vanderbilt College Republicans, Vanderbilt College Democrats, MTSU Roosevelt Institute, Lipscomb Student Government Association, Vanderbilt Students for Nonviolence, and the Black Student Alliance.

For more details, visit: http://vanderbiltpoliticalreview.com/niac

To Register, visit: http://vanderbiltpoliticalreview.com/niac/conference-registration-form/

The event is open to all students, faculty, and administrators of area universities. A University ID will be required for admission.

The general public is welcome, but must register for the event.