Sesquicentennial Lecture

"Changing Demographics:
Snapshots of a New Minnesota and a New America"

Lecture and discussion in commemoration of Minnesota's sesquicentennial

April 17, 2008, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Campus Club, Coffman Memorial Union

Minnesota’s relatively homogeneous population is changing, and new populations are affecting our educational system, our economy, and our cultural and social institutions. Immigrants are arriving here from all over the world, and projections indicate that people of color will comprise 16% of the population by 2030. Projected population increases between 2000 and 2015 indicate an 11% rise for whites; 32% rise for American Indians; 64% increase for African Americans; 69% increase for Asians and Pacific Islanders; and 98% increase for Minnesota’s Latino population.

Such statistics are the backdrop for"Changing Demographics: Snapshots of a New Minnesota and a New America." Hosted by President Robert Bruininks and moderated by Vice President and Vice Provost for Equity and Diversity Rusty Barcelo, "Changing Demographics" will offer a thought-provoking conversation with four University of Minnesota faculty whose wide-ranging research reveals a recurrent theme of exclusion, adversity, and disparity for indigenous people, immigrants, and descendents of former slaves. Those faculty include:

Rose Brewer
Professor of African & African American Studies Rose Brewer will highlight findings from her book, The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, that clearly indicate the persistence of an economic color line in 21st century America.

Erika Lee
Associate Professor in History and Asian American Studies Erika Lee will discuss immigration laws and debates of the last century. She also will note the racialized rhetoric and xenophobia that turned the U.S. into a “gatekeeping nation” and that threaten to do so again today.

Linda LeGarde Grover
Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies Linda LeGarde Grover is a faculty member at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. She will offer points of reflection from her qualitative research on the effects of federal and state Indian education policy on Ojibwe children, families, and communities.

Louis Mendoza
Fresh from a bicycle trip across the U.S., Associate Professor of Chicano Studies Louis Mendoza will offer findings and insights about his travels and Chicano history and culture. He will also address several challenging questions about immigrants and immigration policy.

The program is free of charge and open to the public, but registration is required. Registrations will be accepted until the program is full. Visit the registration page.

For more information about the program, contact the Office for Equity and Diversity at 612-624-0594 or oed@umn.edu.