Whitworth University Press Release - Clark Shalom Lecture

For Immediate Release

November 30, 2004

Human Trafficking Activist to Present Lecture Dec. 8
during Whitworth's Festival of Shalom Week

Michele Clark, co-director of The Protection Project of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, will visit Whitworth Dec. 8 and 9 to speak about human trafficking and what it means to be a proactive global citizen. Among the classes Clark will visit is the Political Science Senior Capstone class that has been simulating an international conference on Human Trafficking this semester. Clark will also give a public address on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. in Seeley Mudd Chapel. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (509) 777-4269. Clark's Whitworth visit is sponsored by the Murdock Lives of Commitment Program and by Whitworth's Political Activism Club.

Clark is a founding member of the War Against Trafficking Alliance, a coalition of individuals, organizations and institutions that works in defense of women and children who are held captive and forced into the international sex-trafficking industry.

The Protection Project, together with the U.S. Department of State, co-hosted the International Summit on Sex Trafficking in Washington, D.C., in February 2003. Clark is also engaged in an in-depth research project involving the identification of victims of trafficking in different countries in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

Clark travels extensively to meet with representatives of foreign governments, conduct fact-finding missions, and present training and educational programs to members of government, educators, law-enforcement officials and religious as well as community organizations. Her recent missions have included trips to Moldova, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Israel, the Netherlands, Peru and Italy.

Clark's lecture is part of Whitworth's Festival of Shalom, an awareness week sponsored by the college's social-activism clubs. The festival will take place Dec. 6-10 and will feature a social-activism club fair on Thursday, Dec. 9, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Hixson Union Building Multipurpose Room.

The fair will feature booths from the Political Activism Club, Amnesty International, Student Global Aids Campaign, Women in Society Everywhere, Environmental Action Troupe, Human Rights Film Club, Whitworth Missions Fellowship, and the International Justice Mission. The clubs plan to raise funds to repair a well in Kenya through a contest in which students will "vote" through the money they donate for the Whitworth professor they want to wear a kilt for a day.

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private, liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college enrolls 2,400 students in more than 50 undergraduate and graduate programs.

Contacts:

Sarah Brody, assistant to the director, Murdock Lives of Commitment Project, Whitworth College, (509) 777-4269 or sbrody@whitworth.edu.

Cecelia Laverty, Murdock event coordinator, Whitworth College, (509) 951-8799 or claverty01@whitworth.edu.

Julie Riddle, public information specialist, Whitworth College, (509) 777-3729 or jriddle@whitworth.edu.