10/21/97

By Roy Summerford (summero@mail.auburn.edu)

AU TO HOST RACE, POVERTY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE CONFERENCE

AUBURN -- One of the nation's leading authorities on the growth of the urban underclass in America will be keynote speaker for a teleconference on "Race, Poverty and the Criminal Justice System," on Nov. 3, at Auburn University.

Sociologist William Julius Wilson was cited by Time magazine as one of America's 25 most influential people in 1996 for his defining works on the relationship between the loss of industry and the growth of a poor underclass.

Time said of Wilson: "Indeed, no thinker has done more than the 60- year-old sociologist to explain why the black underclass sank into such misery and isolation at the same time millions of other African-Americans were escaping from the ghetto to create a vibrant middle class."

Wilson heads a list of authorities from the government, private and academic sectors for the live, interactive teleconference at the AU Hotel and Conference Center.

The Harvard sociologist, whom President Clinton credited with shaping his views on race and poverty, will lead a panel of experts in presentations from 1 p.m.- 4 p.m.

Other panelists include Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery; James Johnson Jr., Adams Distinguished Professor of Geography, Business and Sociology at the University of North Carolina; attorney Richard Halperin, former chair of the board of Amnesty, International; Paul Pedersen, author and professor of human sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; and Wendell Chambliss, legislative director for Rep. Earl Hilliard, D- Ala.

The morning sessions, starting at 9:15 a.m., include presentations by academic, government and private sector leaders in the target areas.

The conference will explore problems that are national in scope yet several impact on cities and rural areas in Alabama and Georgia. Many cities and small towns in these states are experiencing stresses related to race, poverty and crime, said conference coordinator Renee Middleton, director of human resources for AU's College of Education.

Topics to be explored include the educational, social, political implications and impact of race, poverty and the criminal justice system, both locally and nationally.

The goal, Middleton said, is to help people understand the issues better, not to promote one ideology or another. "We want to look at things that are working and see how they can be applied on a broader basis," she added.

Among questions to be addressed are:

** How can we use educational and political processes to achieve positive outcomes
and solutions in our communities?
** What happens to a community when work disappears?
** Can we live in a "race neutral" society with "race neutral programs"?
** What is the impact of family structure on poverty?
**How are all of these issues played out in our political system?

Wilson, whose latest book is When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor and the Truly Disadvantaged, has influenced the debate on race, poverty and economic class since publication in 1978 of his book The Declining Significance of Race, in which he predicted trends of the subsequent two decades, attributing many of the emerging problems of inner cities to a mix of racial and class attitudes and the "suburbanization" of business and manufacturing.

A professor at the University of Chicago for 24 years and a professor of social policy at Harvard since 1996, Wilson has been criticized by some liberals and conservatives alike for not sharing their views. However, his pioneering studies have been praised by Time, U.S. News & World Report and The New York Times for providing deeper insights into the interrelationships of class, race, economic changes, poverty and crime.

Speakers for the morning sessions include Karen Taylor, Alabama State University; Brian Fair, University of Alabama; Barry Burkhart and William Kelly, Auburn; and Mathew Whiteside and Aubrey Womack, Stillman College.

For registration or downlink information, contact Middleton at 334/844-94446 or by e-mail at middlre@mail.auburn.edu .

oct97:AU-conference