Class examining immigration issues to be open to community

A course examining domestic and global immigration issues, taught by faculty of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and other scholars, is free and open to the public.

The course, Immigration Rights and Wrongs, began Oct. 4. The remaining panel discussions will take place on Oct. 23 and 30 and on Nov. 13.

Immigration remains one of the hot-button issues for the coming round of midterm elections, and competing claims about the economic, political and cultural effects of immigration are prominent in scholarly and popular discourse, said sociology Professor Lawrence Bobo, the Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor and director of the center. Particularly in California, which grows more ethnically and racially heterogeneous with each new measurement, it is imperative to offer students and members of the community "a wide-ranging, stimulating and provocative examination of the challenge of immigration today," he said.

In addition to Stanford faculty, the course features scholars from Columbia, Princeton and UC-Berkeley, among other universities. A similarly structured autumn 2005 course, which examined political, economic and sociological issues in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, drew approximately 350 students and others to each session, said Chris Queen, assistant director of the center.

Following are the titles of the remaining classes:

Classes are scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 105 in Braun Hall (Building 320).

Additional course information, including the names of faculty and guest presenters, is available online at http://ccsre.stanford.edu/EV_events.htm.

"Sed: A Trail of Thirst," an exhibition of photography and artwork by Stanford alumnus Orlando Lara, is on display in the center's reading room (on the second floor of Building 240) in conjunction with the class. The exhibition is open during regular center hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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