NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

11/16/2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -A conference held earlier this year at Northwestern State University on the 1965 Civil and Voting Rights Act has been honored by the American Democracy Project's South Regional Organization.

NSU received second place in the Co-Curricular category for the conference which was organized by Professor of Political Science Dr. Alex Aichinger, Assistant Professor of Geography Dr. William Fagan and School of Social Sciences Project Coordinator Stacy Fontenot.

The conference commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act and featured participation by academics, political officials and institutions such as the American Civil Liberties Union. The conference featured academic paper presentations, a book signing, an oral history project and a banquet honoring local leaders from the civil rights era. Because of the success of the event, a second conference will held in March in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Louisiana Political Science Association at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.

"We were hoping not only to make students and the community aware of their rights and responsibilities but also for them to get actively involved in pursuing those rights," said Aichinger. "We wanted to educate ways to actively pursue those rights which include a right to education and a right to decent housing."

Aichinger pointed out these rights are existing ones established in federal and state law. Another conference is planned in Natchitoches in 2007.

"We want to explain to the students advances that have been made in community awareness and community activity," said Aichinger. "We want students to get involved."

The American Democracy Project is a multi-campus initiative that seeks to create an intellectual and experiential understanding of civic engagement for undergraduatesenrolled at institutions that are members of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). The goal of the project is to produce graduates who understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy.

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