The Women of Color Collective of Harvard Law School, an organization of women of color law students, will hold its Second Annual Spring Conference, "Perspectives: Women of Color and Social Change."

The conference will take place Saturday, March 1, at Austin Hall on the Law School campus. The conference will provide participants Ñ students, practitioners, and academics Ñ with an opportunity to expose and explore the increasing hostility and apathy toward issues of critical importance to the social, political, and economic condition of women of color. Deconstructing the rhetoric that surrounds such issues is necessary to chart an effective multifaceted and multi-ethnic agenda for women of color as the 21st century approaches.

Recognizing the many institutions and issues that inform the lives of women of color, their families, and their communities, the conference will feature panel discussions in the following subject areas: "All in a Day's Work: Women of Color and Organized Labor," "Teaching Our Young Sisters: Issues in Primary and Secondary Education," "Locked In: Women of Color and the Criminal Justice System," "Domestic Violence and Cultural Relativity," "Body & Soul: Women of Color and Health Access," "Defining Family: Creating Responsiblity," "From the Ground Up: Grassroots and Community Economic Development," and "Options, Obstacles, and Opportunities: Women of Color Professionals." Each panel will focus on identifying concrete strategies for change and the necessary steps for implementing those changes in a specific time-frame.

In beginning to resolve the problems facing women of color today, it is crucial that women of color are perceived as complex contributors to society Ñ as entrepreneurs/workers, parents, scholars, and artists Ñ and not merely as victims of larger social forces. Therefore, as part of the Women of Color Collective's commitment to challenging negative stereotypes of women of color, the conference will showcase the work of women of color professionals, activists, and academics as innovators and problem-solvers in a diverse array of fields.

Confirmed panelists include: Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president, AFL-CIO, who will deliver the opening address; Norma Cantu, assistant secretary for civil rights, U.S. Department of Education, who will be the keynote speaker; Kim Kerkle, Lambda Legal Defense Fund; Professor Dorothy Roberts, Rutgers Law School; Barbara Bostick-Hunt, assistant deputy chief of staff to Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke; Professor Luana Ross, University of California, Davis; Mei-Zhui Lui, Health Care for All; Zelenia Chevere, principal of the Young Women's Leadership School.

"Perspectives: Women of Color and Social Change" is the next step in that continuing process of dialogue, social change, and coalition-building. Admission is $45 for practitioners; $25 for nonprofit staffers; and $15 for students/low-income community members who register before March 1. On-site registration is accepted for a 50 percent late fee. For more information on the conference, please contact, Tracy-Elizabeth Clay at 493-9107.