Purdue legend to speak tonight

By Laura Pelner
Campus Editor

Purdue's all-time greatest football player is speaking on campus tonight as part of the Kitchen Table's "Around the Table Lecture Series."

Leroy Keyes, who played tailback at Purdue from 1966-1968 and earned All-American status his senior year, will speak about success in life and adapting to change. This lecture is the first of 10 to be hosted by the Kitchen Table this semester.

"Almost every Tuesday this semester we're going to be running a lecture about various topics that are related to a social issue or some kind of Purdue issue that's important to people," said Katie Brossard, treasurer and lecture series coordinator for Kitchen Table.

Brossard, a junior in the School of Management, said this is the first year Kitchen Table, which has been at Purdue for three years, is running the program.

"Leroy Keyes, he's such a Purdue sports legend," said Brossard. "Everyone we have speaking is someone who's an expert in their field. Everyone has something to offer that's really unique."

Keyes said he's going to speak about successfully handling change. "I'm going to talk about kids who are successful coming out of high school, going to college," he said. "Some conflicts and resolutions they have to face."

As an example, Keyes said some freshmen who were the "big apple" in their high schools are now at a campus with about 38,000 students.

"Professors don't even know your name, you have to adapt," Keyes said.

He also said he would address adapting to life after college.

Brossard added that Keyes would probably tie in the sports successes he's had and how they relate to his personal and professional life. "I think the conversation will go towards places where change happened in his life, how he reacted to it, how he turned it into a success for him," she said.

Each Kitchen Table lecture will have a different focus and speaker, though Brossard said all the speakers have some sort of Purdue connection. She also said each speaker is volunteering his or her time for the lectures.

"The speakers are doing this for free," said Brossard. "They feel they have something to say and they're willing to do it without being paid."

Though this is the first year the Kitchen Table is hosting the series the group is already working on plans for next semester. Brossard said she hopes this becomes a constant series so someone is always talking on campus on Tuesday nights.

"We felt like, in accomplishing diversity, what we had been focussing on was doing activities to get people together," said Brossard. "We were thinking, if we could do something more educational, have people come in and talk about important topics, that would be helpful too."

This semester's lecturers include the Purdue Equality Alliance, which will speak about being homosexual, bisexual or transgendered on campus; associate professor John Dunning, who will speak about environmental policy; associate professor Judson Jeffries will speak about affirmative action; and the Purdue Wellness Office will speak about drug addiction.

The lecture formats will vary from a panel discussion to lectures to a video/documentary.

Each presentation, which is on a Tuesday night, is free and open to the public. Each will be held in Electrical Engineering, Room 117. All speakers, except for the one on Oct. 23, begin at 7 p.m. The one on Oct. 23 begins at 6.

Purdue legend to speak tonight

Lecture series to spotlight tourism industry innovators

Club hosts cultural music events

CAMPUS DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 253

Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

To send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org