Description: Dr. Somadoda Fikeni is a leading political commentator on contemporary political issues in South Africa and is a contributing consultant to the BBC. Dr. Fikeni, who earned an MSU PhD in Political Science, was involved in political protest in South Africa before he arrived at MSU. Dr. Fikeni will share his perspectives on current political issues in South Africa.

Description: In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Michigan State University's decision to divest from companies doing business with apartheid South Africa, MSU is holding a conference on "Campus Activism for Justice, from Southern Africa to Michigan." The event is part of MSU's Year of Global Africa and sponsored by the MSU Library and African Studies Center. Co-sponsored by Vice President Student Affairs and Services, Associate Provost for University Outreach and Engagement, Office of Inclusion and Inter-cultural Affairs; Colleges of Social Science, James Madison, Law, Arts and Letters, Education; Departments of History, Sociology; and MATRIX. All events on Thursday (except Eye on Africa lecture) and the daylong conference on Friday are at the MSU Main Library and are free and open to the public.

Description: In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Michigan State University's decision to divest from companies doing business with apartheid South Africa, MSU will host a conference Sept. 27- 28 on "Campus Activism for Justice, from Southern Africa to Michigan." Speakers from South Africa and the U.S. will look back at the campaigns for justice which led to the successful MSU Board of Trustees decision to divest (resulting in MSU becoming the first university in the nation to completely divest and the subsequent State of Michigan passing more sanctions on South Africa than any other state). The conference will put the divestment campaign into the larger context of campus movements that came before it, including activism at MSU by African Americans, women and those opposed to the war in Vietnam. Campus activists from South Africa and MSU will also discuss some of today's student movements focused on such issues as global justice, responsible employment practices and the environment. Special guests from South Africa will include Dr. Somadoda Fikeni, and Nomzamo Ntombela. Dr. Fikeni is a leading political commentator on contemporary political issues in South Africa and is a contributing consultant to the BBC. He has held academic positions at Walter Sisulu University and at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Dr. Fikeni was involved in political protests in South Africa before he arrived at MSU. He will share his experiences as a student activist in the 1980s in South Africa. In 2017, Ms. Ntombela was elected chairperson of the Student Representative Council at Stellenbosch University. The daylong conference on Friday, Sept. 28 will be preceded on Thursday, Sept. 27 with the Eye on Africa lecture, noon to 1:30 p.m. in Room 201, International Center. An evening lecture will be held (speaker to be determined). All events on Thursday and the daylong conference on Friday are free and open to the public.

Description: Join WKAR and MSU for a special screening of The Road to Little Rock and conversation with Ernest Green! Member of the Little Rock Nine, Civil Rights Activist and Michigan State University Alumnus Ernest Green has been named the 2018 Homecoming Grand Marshal. Green will take part in various MSU Homecoming festivities during the week of October 1 to 6, including this special event with WKAR. The event begins with a full screening of The Road to Little Rock followed by a conversation with Ernest Green, lead by MSU Communication Arts and Sciences Dean Prabu David.

Description: MSU/College of Social Science alumnus and member of the Little Rock Nine, the first group of African-American students to attend a desegregated high school.

Description: The School of Human Resources and Labor Relations will host oral historian and filmmaker Matthew Barr of the Unheard Voices Project who will be showing his film "Union Time: Fighting for Worker Rights" which chronicles the 2008 victory by the North Carolina employees of the Smithfield Port Processing plant. The primarily minority workforce spent sixteen years in their fight for justice and a union at the meatpacking plant. You can check out the teaser for the film and other information at the Unheard Voices website: https://www.uniontimefilm.org. For more information, please contact John Beck at beckj@msu.edu.

Description: Sherry Linkon, English Department, Georgetown University and Author of The Half-Life of Deindustrialization: Working-Class Writing about Economic Restructuring (University of Michigan Press, 2018)

Description: Jerry Garcia, Ethnic Studies Program, Northern Arizona University

Description: John Aerni-Flessner, MSU Residential College in the Arts and Humanities

Description: Darcy Drew Greene, MSU School of Journalism

Description: Sam Gleaves, Folk Performer

Description: Clare Luz and Khalid Ibrahim, MSU College of Human Medicine

Description: Johanna Schuster-Craig, MSU Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Langugages