Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release		                  February 1, 1999

Cornell West, America's "Most Eloquent Public Intellectual," Discusses Race
Relations in Lawrence University Convocation 


     APPLETON, WIS. -- Acclaimed author and Harvard University professor
Cornel West brings his unique blend of black preacher's oratory and
philosopher's vocabulary to Lawrence University for a discussion on issues
of race in society.  
     As the second guest speaker in Lawrence's 1998-99 convocation series,
West delivers the address, "Race Matters," Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 11:10 a.m. in
the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.  West also will conduct a question-and-answer
session in the Chapel following his address.  The event is free and open to
the public. 
     West, 45, has been widely hailed as the "pre-eminent African-American
intellectual of our time" and America's "most eloquent public intellectual."
A self-described "prisoner of hope," West believes the racial, economic and
philosophical differences that divide society can be overcome through
reconciliation.  He urges society to make a "leap of faith beyond the
evidence and try to energize one another so we can accent the best in one
another."
     Influenced by traditions as diverse as the Baptist Church, the Black
Panthers, European philosophy and American transcendentalism, West has
written 14 books, including the 1993 best-selling "Race Matters," which
earned him extensive profiles in both Time and Newsweek, "Restoring Hope," a
compilation of interviews with African-American luminaries discussing hope
and despair in black America, "Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing Begin,"
"The War Against Parents" and his most recent release, "The Future of
American Progressivism." 
     A product of a black, blue-collar neighborhood outside Sacramento,
Calif., West attended Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude in just
three years.  He went on to earn his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1980.
He returned to Princeton in 1987 to teach religion and direct the
Afro-American studies department.   
     In 1994, West left Princeton to join the faculty at Harvard, where he
currently teaches religion and Afro-American studies.  Last spring, he was
appointed "university professor," Harvard's highest faculty post.  He became
the first black scholar promoted to that position since the title was
created more than 60 years ago.  West is one of only 14 of Harvard's current
2,200 faculty members to hold that title.
	     A frequent guest commentator on national news programs, including
"Nightline," "CNN Talk" and "Firing Line," West is a member of President
Clinton's National Conversation on Race initiative.  He also co-chairs the
National Parenting Association's Task Force on Parent Empowerment.