Springfield, MO, October 3, 2023 – As part of its 150th anniversary celebrations, Drury University and the Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship are pleased to announce Deborah Archer, President of the American Civil Liberties Union, as the fall speaker. Archer will speak on the topic of “Defending Civil Liberties and Civil Rights in a Divided Nation.” The talk will take place on Thursday, November 16 at 6:00 p.m. in Drury’s Stone Chapel.
As the eighth President of the ACLU, Archer leads America’s premier civil rights and civil liberties organization. The daughter of Jamaican immigrants, Archer’s family moved to the suburbs of Hartford, Connecticut when she was nine years old. They soon realized they weren’t welcome — even waking up to “KKK” spray-painted on their home and car. She was terrified until her parents encouraged her to fight back. She took their advice to heart. Archer’s commitment to civil rights and civil liberties grew from her family’s personal experience confronting racism, classism and anti-immigrant sentiment.
The first person of color to lead the ACLU, Archer is a leading civil rights and civil liberties advocate, civil rights lawyer, professor, writer and commentator. Her talks explore the intersection of race, civil liberties and the law.
In addition to serving as the eighth President of the ACLU, Archer is a Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law and Faculty Director of the Law School’s Center on Race, Inequality and the Law.
Previously, she was an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU, where she litigated in the areas of voting rights, employment discrimination and school desegregation. On two separate occasions, she chaired the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, the nation’s oldest and largest police oversight agency.
Archer’s articles have appeared in leading law journals, and she has been recognized by the New York Law Journal as one of New York’s Top Women in Law. Archer regularly appears in print and on television to comment on critical political and policy issues. She is a graduate of Yale Law School, where she was awarded the Charles G. Albom Prize.
Archer’s upcoming talk at Drury is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Director of the Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship, Dan Ponder, at deponder@drury.edu.
For a full list of Drury University’s 150th anniversary events, visit Drury.edu/150.
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Media Contact: Jasmine Cooper, Executive Director of University Communications and Media Relations, Office: (417) 873-7390, Email: JCooper020@drury.edu
