University of Virginia Library

McGovern, Evers
Lead 'Contact' 1969
At W&L University

By Tom Jenks

Senator George S. McGovern,
Charles Evers, field director of the
NAACP in Mississippi, and NASA
critic Ralph Lapp will be the key
speakers in Washington and Lee
University's public affairs and intellectual
symposium, Contact"
1969. This year's "Contact"
subject is power, "its uses, abuses,
implications, and attainment," said
Sam Hinkle, "Contact" chairman.
"Contact" presents the participating
students with details and facts in
the area that area that is studied
and with certain interpretations of
the facts; the program, however,
itself draws no conclusions or ideological
facts but leaves that up to
the individual student," Mr. Hinkle
continued.

The annual symposium, which is
scheduled for February 12 to 15,
tries to achieve meaningful communication
between speakers and
students through panel discussions,
seminars, and informal dialogue.

Contact's major speaker this
year is Senator George S.
McGovern, who received national
prominence last summer when he
announced his candidacy for the
Democratic presidential nomination
and received the support of many
delegates previously committed to
Senator Robert Kennedy.

Senator McGovern will speak on
"The Limitations of Power" at
noon, February 15, in the Doremus
Gymnasium on the Washington and
Lee campus "Foreign power and
the United States' commitment
abroad are expected to be the main
topics of the speech," Mr. Hinkle
said.

Charles Evers, who ran in the
Democratic congressional primary
in March 1968 and lost to Charles
Griffin, will speak on "Black
Power" on Thursday, February 13,
in Lee Chapel. Mr. Evers serves as
the national committee man of the
Mississippi Freedom Party and is
the brother of Medgar Evers, who
was killed in his own front yard by
a sniper six years ago.

Noted physicist and sociologist,
Ralph Lapp, will deliver a talk on
the implications of scientific discovery
and progress in the last
thirty years on Wednesday,
February 12, in the Lee Chapel.

Although he has most recently
come into the public eye through
his criticism of the U.S. Space program
and moon race, Mr. Lapp is
better known for his role in the
Manhattan Project in which the
hydrogen bomb was developed.

An eye witness to the May
revolutions in Paris, journalist
Philippe Labro, will fly over from
France to speak on the extent and
ultimate failure of the revolt. "He
will describe the unique union of
workers, students, and intellectuals
who combined in France to form a
new power group," Mr. Hinkle said.

Other speakers will include John
S. Silber, Dean of the University of
Texas-Austin, who ill speak on
student power, and economist
Walter Adams, "All speeches
and seminars are open to the public
without admission or charge, and
University students in particular are
invited," the "Contact" chairman
said.