As part of ongoing efforts to initiate campus dialogue on critical issues, Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings and Dean of the Faculty J. Robert Cooke are cosponsoring a University Faculty Forum on Wednesday, March 17, to discuss the new book Cornell '69: Liberalism and the Crisis of the American University.

The scholarly book by Donald A. Downs is being published by Cornell University Press to coincide with the 30th anniversary in April of the takeover of Willard Straight Hall. The book addresses racial issues and issues of academic freedom raised at Cornell in the 1960s. Downs, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin and a Cornell undergraduate during the takeover, is a 1971 graduate.

Cooke said the forum will launch an ongoing, campuswide discussion on diversity.

"The campus events of 30 years ago had a profound impact upon the entire Cornell community," Cooke said. "Those events continue to touch the life of the university today in both obvious and subtle ways. Acting on the belief that we learn through rational discourse, the faculty is planning a campuswide discussion of the climate for diversity, particularly as it affects students. We want to make this a better place to live and work."

"The Faculty Forum, 'Cornell 1969: Key Issues Then and Now,' will launch those discussions. We will take as our point of departure Professor Downs' new, scholarly treatise, Cornell '69: Liberalism and the Crisis of the American University. Rather than dwell upon the details of 30 years ago, we want the Faculty Forum to focus on the important changes in diversity that have occurred at Cornell and discuss the key issues that remain unresolved."

The forum is scheduled from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium of Kennedy Hall. Panelists will include Rawlings, Cooke, Downs, Dale Corson, president Emeritus, Kenneth McClane, professor of English, and Walter LaFeber, professor of history. Tickets will be required. The Office of the University will oversee the distribution of tickets.

In his book, Downs analyzes the Straight takeover from both the administration and protesters' perspectives and explores issues still being debated today: issues of racial justice, academic freedom and the role of the university in society.

The takeover on April 19, 1969, capped racial and political unrest on campus. In its aftermath, then-President James Perkins resigned and the university created what is now the Africana Studies and Research Center.

Downs will stay after the discussion to sign copies of his book, which will become available at the Cornell Campus Store on March 1.