Purdue News

BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION EXPERTS

May 4, 2004

Purdue experts can comment on Brown vs. Board of Education

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University experts can talk about a variety of issues and events related to the May 17, 1954, U.S. Supreme Court decision, known as Brown vs. Board of Education, that declared racial discrimination in public schools unconstitutional. A release related to an event at Purdue that will take place on the 50th anniversary of the landmark decsion is available online.

• Alysa C. Rollock, vice president for human relations at Purdue since 1999, is a graduate of Princeton University and the Yale University School of Law. She oversees the areas of the Women's Resource Office, Affirmative Action Office and Diversity Resource Office. She was a law professor at Indiana University from 1992 to 1998 with a research focus on professional responsibility, and corporate and securities law. She serves as a member of the Indiana State Ethics Commission and can speak on a variety of issues related to the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

CONTACT: Rollock, (765) 494-5830, acrollock@purdue.edu

• Judith Gappa, professor of education administration in the School of Education, is an expert on equity issues in higher education. She has done extensive work focusing on affirmative action at universities and also studies minority recruitment and retention and campus racial climate. She can discuss the impact of the Brown decision on colleges and universities, as well as the progress toward equity in higher education since 1954.

CONTACT: Gappa, (765) 494-8121, gappa@purdue.edu

• William McLauchlan, associate professor of political science in the School of Liberal Arts, is an expert in constitutional law. He can talk about the Brown decision and the development of equal educational opportunity in America.

CONTACT: McLauchlan, (765) 494-4171, mclauchl@polsci.purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Publication-quality photos of Judith Gappa and Alysa Rollock are available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/++Mugshots/gappa.judith.jpeg and http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/++Mugshots/rollock.a.jpeg