Madeleine Albright to speak at IMU on Friday

Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will speak at IU on Friday.

Albright, who at one point was one of the most powerful women in the country, will speak at an open forum regarding foreign policy and the 2008 presidential election.

Students for Change, a group comprised of the IU College Democrats and Students for Barack Obama, is sponsoring the event.

“We’re getting a huge response on this already,” said Rose Byrne, president of Students for Barack Obama. “People are really excited about this, and we’re expecting a lot of people.”

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1937, Albright became a U.S. citizen in 1957, according to an interview in The Guardian. She eventually became President Clinton’s ambassador to the UN in 1993 when he first took office. Clinton then named her the 64th secretary of state when he began his second term.

Albright has also authored several books and serves as the chairperson of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

“It’s awfully incredible,” Byrne said. “We’re really lucky to have someone with as much foreign policy experience as Madeleine to come to IU. I think it’s great for our campus, and I think it’s a great way to educate all of the voters that we’re registering.”

The event will take place from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. Friday in the Indiana Memorial Union Alumni Hall. People who are interested in attending can e-mail their names, phone numbers and addresses to iu4obama@gmail.com.