Universities need to get further in touch with things going on outside the ivory towers. At the same time, things going on outside the ivory towers deserved to be discussed in an intelligent and critical way.

The mass media doesn't contribute to an accurate conversation about it all.

Talking about this is a starting point to get to talking about some significant issues of social justice. This becomes a building block because there is so much history, reason, and passion invested in this word that the conversation easily turns to issues the word brings up - power, culture, community development.

I believe that there are certain contexts in black communities as a sign of belonging and an attempt to remember that history will be written away.

The goal of the panel is to have a spirited, learned, and careful discussion about both the historical roots and contemporary use of the n-word.

When they come downstairs from their ivory towers, idealists are apt to walk straight into the gutter