News from
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Office of Communications
Stanhope Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264
Telephone 609-258-3601; Fax 609-258-1301

Contacts: Susan C. Overton, Director,
Princeton University Women's Center, (609) 258-5565

Heddye Ducree, Director,
Princeton University Third World Center, (609) 258-5494

Date: September 24, 1999
 

Diane Abbott, First Black Woman Elected to British Parliament, to Speak

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The Princeton University Women's Center, the Third World Center, and the African American Studies Program will host Diane Abbott on Thursday, October 7, 1999 at 7:00 p.m. at the Third World Center Liberation Hall, 86 Olden Avenue, on the Princeton University campus. Ms. Abbott will speak on "Women and Leadership".

Dianne Abbott was first elected to the House of Commons in 1987. She has had a role in decision-making processes surrounding some of the most important international events of the past decade: deliberating over NATO and United Nations action in the Balkans and Africa; participating as a member of the Treasury Committee of the International Monetary Fund, which was charged with resolving the debt crises facing countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin American; and criticizing the Maastricht Treaty. She has spoken out in favor of funding for public higher education and aggressive action in response to hate crimes.

Ms. Abbott, an honors graduate of Cambridge University and the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, represents a working class, multi-ethnic district in London. A former journalist, she was a founding member of the Black Media Workers Organisation in the United Kingdom. She is an engaging, provocative speaker who has delivered a number of commencement addresses on campuses in the United States.

 

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