Racism speaker to visit UNM today

The recent outcry about racism at UNM prompted the Dean of Students Office to bring nationally known diversity speaker Steve Birdine to speak at the Kiva Lecture Hall tonight at 7 p.m.

Steve Birdine is the coordinator of Diversity Programs at Indiana University and president of Creative Diversity Communications. A diversity educator and motivational speaker, Birdine stresses the importance of acceptance and open-mindedness for a culturally diverse society.

"He's pretty well-known in higher education," said Yvonne Pe§a, UNM's student affairs specialist. "We wanted to bring in the best speaker we could to really connect with the UNM community to address people's concerns."

Pe§a said students had asked her to bring in the guest speaker to help begin a discussion about racism at UNM following the incident last semester when a student taped a swastika to the roof of a black student's car that was illegally parked outside of a fraternity house.

"The reason we invited the speaker is because students asked that we address what happened last semester, but this is also about letting students know that the racism issue at UNM extends beyond the incident last semester," she said. "It's letting students know that this is a campus-wide issue they need to be aware about in order to address together."

Pe§a added that the tension on campus that was directed into protests should be channeled toward correcting problems on campus.

"It's just the like the message I put on the flyer to advertise the guest speaker - `It's time we stop talking and start the healing process,'" she said.

Pe§a said that while the event is geared toward UNM students, staff and faculty, community members are welcome to see Birdine. She said people could find it to be an interesting experience.

"He does a really good job during his speeches and doesn't just give a lecture," she said. "He really involves the audience."

Birdine is a native of Chicago, Ill., and earned his bachelor's degree in print journalism and master's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.