Scholar to address diversity

Orlando Patterson, professor of sociology at Harvard University and renowned scholar on race relations and freedom in Western culture, will address faculty and students on racial integration and freedom tonight at the 13th annual Paul V. McNutt Lecture, sponsored by the history department.\nHis speech, "Diversity, Security and the Contradictions of Freedom in America," will be at 8 p.m. in Rawles Hall 100.\nPatterson is John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard and was formerly part of the faculty at the London School of Economics and the University of the West Indies.\nPatterson has received several awards and world-wide acclaim for his books and essays on ethnicity and the ideals of freedom involving race, immigration and multiculturalism, according to Harvard's Web site biography on Patterson. Associate history professor Nick Cullather said Patterson writes frequently for the New York Times, in addition to his work writing books on race relations, slavery and teaching.\n"After the trial of Amadou Diallo's killers, he wrote an editorial that raised some of the themes he will talk about here -- the relationship between diversity and security," Cullather said.\nJames Madison, history department chairman, said he believes Patterson's expertise in race relations is one of the most complex and important in America today.\n"I'm most familiar with his book "Slavery And Social Death" and the work he has done on runaway slaves," said Claude Clegg, associate professor of history. "He has also done work on the idea of freedom in Western culture, and I believe this will be a central theme of his talk. That is, how Americans have thought and continue to think about the notions of liberty, rights, equality, etc."\nCullather said the aftermath of the killing of graduate student Won-Joon Yoon about a year ago made Patterson an ideal speaker on race relations at IU.\n"His writing on race and integration deals with questions of how to balance the core values of our society: freedom, security and privacy," Cullather said. "It goes beyond many of the formulaic responses often heard from columnists and commentators on race."\nCullather said the McNutt lecture is a continued tradition of the history department.\n"The Lecture honors Paul V. McNutt, an IU law professor, a governor of Indiana, ambassador to the Philippines and defense attorney for Hollywood scriptwriters and directors accused of being communists during the McCarthy era," Cullather said.\nHe said the McNutt lecture is the most prestigious lecture offered by the history department. The lecture is once a year and is open for faculty, students and the public that sets it apart from some other University lectures, Cullather said.\nClegg said the speaker featured is usually a distinguished professor who is fairly recognized across many disciplines of study.\n"I believe that professor Patterson's talk will challenge IU faculty and students to rethink and re-imagine their notions of citizenship, rights, and their historical grasp of these and related ideas," Clegg said.