Hip-Hop Expert to Speak at UT on Oct. 28
Who knew doctors could specialize in hip-hop culture? The University of Toledo’s Office of Multicultural Student Services and the Student African American Brotherhood found one that does.
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill will speak on campus about “How to Live a Life of Significance” 6:30–9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 in Student Union rooms 2582 and 2584.
Hill is a social activist and a founding board member of My5th, a non-profit organization devoted to educating youth about their legal rights and responsibilities. He is the author of the book, Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy, and the Politics of Identity.
Hill, who received his doctorate in anthropology of education from the University of Pennsylvania, was deemed by Ebony Magazine one of America’s top 30 black leaders under 30 years old.
“We brought in Dr. Hill because he speaks on encouragement and diversity, using hip-hop and other media outlets as examples,” said David Harris, president of SAAB. “He’s someone that students can relate to.”
Richard Montgomery, the faculty advisor to SAAB, said it is important to have speakers such as Hill come to the University because they often help focus the lives of college students.
“The Student African American Brotherhood is an initiative to retain African American men in college,” said Montgomery, assistant director of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Program “Unfortunately there is a high college drop-out rate with African American men.”
Hill, who often appears on television programs and in prestigious newspapers, will focus his lecture on culture, race, diversity, and how this generation is influenced by media and hip-hop music in particular.
“We’re hoping that black men on campus take away the lesson that college is not about being popular, but more so about the need to get an education and to be successful in order to break through stereotypes society has set,” Harris said.
The lecture is free and open to the entire UT community.
For more information contact the Office of Multicultural Student Services at 419.530.2261
Press Release Contact Name: Meghan Cunningham
Press Release Contact Email: [email protected]
Organization Name: University of Toledo