2/23/05 Contact: Diane Clifton, 334/844-9999 (cliftsh@auburn.edu)
David Granger, 334/844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)

REYNOLDS, HOLMES TO ADDRESS CIVIL RIGHTS FEB. 25

AUBURN – Gerald Reynolds, the newly appointed chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, will speak at AU this week.

Reynolds' speech, "A National Conversation on Civil Rights in America," will be at the AU Hotel and Dixon Conference Center's Seminar Room Friday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m.

Democratic State Rep. Alvin Holmes, representative for District 78 since 1974 and chair of the Civil Rights Division of the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, will respond to Reynolds' remarks.

Before being appointed by President George W. Bush in December, Reynolds, a Republican, was the assistant general counsel for Great Plains Energy Inc. in Kansas City, Mo. He has also served as the assistant secretary in charge of the civil rights office at the Education Department and deputy attorney general at the Justice Department.

Holmes is chair of the Montgomery County Legislation Committee and serves on the Contract Review Committee, Joint Budget Committee and Legislative Council. Holmes, a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee and the Democratic National Committee, is also on the board of the Alabama Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Reynolds' and Holmes' addresses are being sponsored by the AU Office of University Outreach and Diversity and Multi-Cultural Affairs and the AU Center for Diversity and Race Relations.

Auburn University is a pre-eminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with nearly 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama's largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Diane Clifton.)

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