Arab-American Civil Liberties to be Topic of Lecture

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Jean AbiNader, managing director and chief operating officer of the Arab American Institute in Washington, D.C., will discuss "Arab Americans: At the Edge of the National Security Debate" during the fifth installment of the "Global Perspectives: Seeing the World Differently" lecture series at the University at Buffalo.

AbiNader's lecture will be held at 7 p.m. April 3 in the Screening Room of the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The series is presented by the Council on International Studies and Programs and the Office of the Vice Provost for International Education at UB.

The lecture will be free and open to the public,

The "Global Perspectives" series was organized to address the need in the university community for access to a variety of perspectives on current international issues. It also serves to highlight the increased importance of international education and exchange in the post-9/11 world.

The lecture by AbiNader will focus on civil liberties in the post-9/11 era.

Since 9/11, Arab Americans have watched their dreams of being part of American society become subject to federal initiatives that create stress, fear and intimidation in the community, AbiNader says. No person, citizen, immigrant or visitor to the U.S. is immune from these new laws.

AbiNader will offer the Arab-American experience as a warning about the need to balance civil liberties with legitimate national-security concerns.