April 28, 1998 Contact: Sherry Wallace 309-556-3181 or Spencer Sauter 309-454-5686
Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader To Speak At IWU Commencement
BLOOMINGTON, Ill.--Consumer advocate Ralph Nader will address the graduating class of 1998 at Illinois Wesleyan University Commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 3, 1998 at 1 p.m. on the university quad. In case of rain, commencement will be held in the Shirk Center, 302 E. Emerson St., Bloomington. Nader's speech is titled, "Citizenship for the 21st Century."
When Nader published his 1965 expose of the auto industry, Unsafe at Any Speed, he was poised to become America's most renowned and effective crusader for the rights of consumers and the general public. Nader became a folk hero when executives at General Motors hired private detectives to harass him about criticizing their unsafe products and then publicly apologizing before a nationally televised Senate committee hearing looking into Nader's accusations. Unsafe at Any Speed became a best-seller and led not only to automobile safety requirements, including one mandating cars be outfitted with safety belts, but also to the passage of the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.
Nader is widely recognized as the founder of the consumers' rights movement and has gone on to create an organization of young lawyers and researchers often called "Nader's Raiders." They have produced systematic exposes of industrial hazards, pollution, unsafe products, and governmental neglect of consumer safety laws. Nader played a key role in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Additionally, Nader helped draft and pass the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Meat and Poultry Inspection Regulations, and the Freedom of Information Act.
Nader's advocacy is wide-reaching, involving everything from pipeline safety, baby food, insecticides and mercury poisoning to pension reform, land use and banking. He has helped to create numerous citizen groups, including the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen, Pension Rights Center, and the Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest.
A few other Nader-inspired organizations include the Consumer Project on Technology, which addresses topics such as telecommunications, intellectual property, pharmaceutical development, government information, access to legal information, privacy, and antitrust; the Center for Study of Responsive Law which supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage political, economic and social institutions to be more aware of the needs of the citizen-consumer; and Essential Information, founded in 1982 to encourage citizens to become active and engaged in their communities, providing provocative information to the public on important topics neglected by the mass media and policy makers.
His best-selling books include Winning the Insurance Game, Why Women Pay More, and Getting the Best from your Doctor. His most recent consumer education books are Children First: A Parents Guide to Fighting
Corporate Predators and No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America. Other books by Nader include Being Beautiful, Canada Firsts, Frugal Shopper, Home Book and Protecting Your Pension.
Recently, Nader has taken up the cause against the Microsoft Corporation and what he considers its "anti-competitive conduct," leading to what he calls "a crusade to stop its drive for cyberspace hegemony." On his Consumer Project of Technology Website, he urges hardware vendors to offer alternative operating systems with their products, and last November held a conference titled "Appraising Microsoft's Global Strategy," which focused on the company's business practices and its impact on the high-tech industry.
In 1996, Nader appeared on the California primary ballot as a candidate for the presidential nomination of the Green Party with the goal of building the foundation of a third political party rallying around "issues rather than colorful figureheads."
Nader was born February 27, 1934 in Winsted, Connecticut, to Nadra and Rose Nader, Lebanese immigrants who operated a restaurant and bakery. Following his graduation in 1951 from Gilbert School, Nader entered the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs at Princeton University. After graduating magna cum laude in 1955 with a major in government and economics, Nader enrolled in Harvard Law School. He became an editor of the Harvard Law Review and, after graduating with honors, set up a small legal practice. He currently lives and maintains his offices in Washington, D.C.
IWU, founded in 1850, enrolls about 2,000 students in a College of Liberal Arts and its Schools of Music, Theater Arts, Art, and Nursing. Since 1994, these facilities have been added to the IWU campus: a $15 million athletic center, a $25 million science building, a $6.8 million residence hall, and a $5.1 million liberal arts center. The Carnegie Commission for the Advancement of Teaching ranks Illinois Wesleyan a "Baccalaureate I" institution, a classification that places it among the 159 highly selective National Liberal Arts Colleges. IWU won the 1997 NCAA Division III men's basketball championship.