campus news & events

Colby-Sawyer College to Host Presentation by Human Rights Activist and Sports Expert Richard E. Lapchick

NEW LONDON, N.H., Oct. 2, 2007 – Colby-Sawyer College will host a presentation by internationally recognized sports expert and human rights activist, Richard E. Lapchick.

The presentation begins on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. in Wheeler Hall at the Ware Campus Center. Community members are invited to attend and admission is free.

Lapchick, who is frequently referred to as “the racial conscience of sport,” is often cited as one of the 100 most powerful people in sport. He has brought his commitment to equality and his belief that sport can be an effective instrument of positive social change to the University of Central Florida (UCF), where he accepted an endowed chair in August 2001. Lapchick is also president and chief executive officer of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport.

Lapchick directs the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at UCF, a landmark program that assists students in developing the business skills necessary conduct successful careers in the dynamic sports industry. In keeping with Lapchick's tradition of human rights activism, the curriculum includes courses with an emphasis on diversity, community service and philanthropy, sport and social issues and ethics. The DeVos Program has been named one of the nation's top five programs by the Wall Street Journal, the Sports Business Journal and ESPN The Magazine.

Lapchick served for eight years as an associate professor of political science at Virginia Wesleyan College before becoming a senior liaison officer at the United Nations in 1978. After leaving his U.N. post in 1984, he helped found the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University in Massachusetts, and served as the center's director for 17 years.

Lapchick was the American Leader of the international campaign to boycott South Africa from sport for 20 years, and was one of 200 specially invited guests to Nelson Mandela's inauguration as South African president in 1993. In 2006, Lapchick, his family and a group of DeVos students formed the Hope for Stanley Foundation, organizing groups of sports management students and student-athletes to work in the reconstruction efforts of New Orleans' Ninth Ward, an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Jean Eckrich, a professor and chair of the Exercise and Sport Sciences Department at Colby-Sawyer, was instrumental in bringing Professor Lapchick to the college, and she recommends his presentation to anyone interested in sports and humanitarian and diversity issues. “Part of our academic mission involves teaching students to appreciate multiple perspectives, and this presentation will certainly support those learning outcomes,” she says. “But I would recommend that everyone take advantage of the opportunity to hear Professor Lapchick's presentation and to benefit from his broad perspective and experience.”

-Marc LeBourdais


Marc LeBourdais is an English major and currently works as an intern in College Communications at Colby-Sawyer College.

Colby-Sawyer, founded in 1837, is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire. Students from 25 states and five foreign countries learn in small classes through a select array of programs that integrate the liberal arts and sciences with pre-professional experience. Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.colby-sawyer.edu.

Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000