Race and gender forum today at the ICC

Forum to consider the issues in the context of the presidential campaign

Just one direct question about a gender-related issue – the underpayment of women compared to men doing the same work – was asked in the second debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney. No question about race was asked at all.

Yet race and gender have intersected repeatedly during the course of the 2012 election season. How they have shaped the campaign strategies of the presidential candidates and informed their public policies is the subject of of forum today organized by the Department of African and Afro-American Studies at 5 p.m. at the Inter-Cultural Center. Panelists for that session are Associate Professor of Politics Jill Greenlee, Associate Professor of Politics Daniel Kryder and History Professor Ibrahim Sundiata.

African and Afro-American Studies Department Chairman Chad Williams, who came to the faculty this summer from Hamilton College, said the program and a similar panel held a week ago at Boston's Harriet Tubman House in partnership with United South End Settlements “are a part of a larger effort by the department to raise awareness of important issues and to forge connections between Brandeis and the Boston community.”

The first panel, which drew a large and enthusiastic crowd to the Harriet Tubman House in Boston's South End, featured Brandeis Professor Anita Hill, Harvard Law Professors Lani Guinier and Kenneth Mack and National Public Radio host Callie Crossley.

Williams said there will be more such collaborative programming in the future because “we want to increase our connections with other colleges and universities in the area and explore ways we can work together.”