Wednesday, Feb 2, 2005
WALLA WALLA, Wash.-- The inaugural presentation of the Whitman College Matthew Shepard Endowed Lecture Series will feature a talk by Shepard’s mother, Judy Shepard, Tuesday, March 1.
The evening’s presentation will begin at 8 p.m. in Cordiner Hall and will include introductory remarks by Tom Cronin, Whitman president, as well as musical contributions from the Whitman College Chamber Singers, directed by Robert Bode and accompanied by Lee Thompson, piano, and the Walla Walla High School Chamber Choir, directed by Norb Rossi. Judy Shepard's presentation, "The Legacy of Matthew Shepard," will be followed by dancer Peter de Grasse performing "Solo for Matthew Shepard." The program is free and the public is invited to attend.
In 1998 Matthew Shepard was murdered in Laramie, Wyoming, in one of the most infamous anti-gay hate crimes in recent memory. Judy Shepard and her husband, Dennis, established the Matthew Shepard Foundation shortly after his death to honor his memory, and Judy Shepard has traveled the country extensively since then giving talks “to educate and replace hate with understanding, acceptance and compassion.” For more information, go to www.matthewshepard.org.
The lecture series at Whitman, made possible by an anonymous donor, has been founded in Shepard’s memory to try to draw something positive and lasting from his murder and to confer a special meaning to his shortened life. During his life Matthew Shepard championed gay and lesbian equality and the prevention of hate crimes, and the lecture series at Whitman will bring noted speakers and public figures to campus to address these issues.
CONTACT: Lenel Parish, Whitman College Communications; Email: parishlj@whitman.edu
