Published: April 16, 2003

The University of Colorado at Boulder Cultural Events Board will present a free public lecture Friday, April 18, by a noted champion of anti-discrimination efforts across the country.

Attorney Morris Dees' presentation, "Tolerances: Has America Progressed?" will take place at the Flatirons Theater on the Hill at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

Although the lecture is free and open to the public, participants are still asked to pick up their free tickets to the event at the UMC Connection, located on the first floor of the University Memorial Center on the CU-Boulder campus.

Dees has dedicated his life to battling racial discrimination and prejudice after growing up in Alabama. He co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center in 1971 and today serves as its chief trial counsel. The center specializes in lawsuits involving civil rights violations, domestic terrorists and racially motivated crimes.

In a number of successful legal battles against the Aryan Nation, the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups, Dees has helped win multimillion dollar settlements for the victims of racially motivated attacks and deaths.

Dees' beliefs have become the basis of an educational training program called "Teaching Tolerance" that is used in more than 80,000 schools nationwide.

For more information, call the Cultural Events Board at (303) 492-3227.