Patricia J. Williams, an expert on race, gender and law, will present the 2001 Daniel W. Kops Freedom of the Press Lecture at Cornell University Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 4:30 p.m. in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall. The lecture, titled "Obstacle Illusions: Free Agency, Free Press and the Politics of Media," is free and open to the public.

Williams is the James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia University's School of Law, an author and recipient of a MacArthur "genius" Fellowship. Her book, The Alchemy of Race and Rights , was named one of the 25 best books of 1991 by the Voice Literary Supplement and was cited by Ms. magazine as one of the "feminist classics of the last 20 years" that "literally changed women's lives."

Her other books are The Rooster's Egg and Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race . She also has published numerous articles in scholarly journals and the press and is a columnist for The Nation . She wrote and narrated a documentary film, That Rush! , about American talk show hosts, and has done numerous radio and television interviews.

She serves on the boards of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Organization of Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Society of American Law Teachers.

Williams is a 1972 graduate of Wellesley College and received her J.D. at Harvard in 1975. She has served on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin School of Law, Harvard University's Women's Studies Program and the City University of New York Law School. Before entering academia, she was a consumer advocate and deputy city attorney for the city of Los Angeles and a staff attorney for the Western Center on Law and Poverty. She also has served as a consultant and coordinator for a variety of public interest lawsuits.

The Kops Freedom of the Press Fellowship Program was established in 1990 by Daniel W. Kops, a 1939 graduate of Cornell and former editor of the Cornell Daily Sun , to bring distinguished speakers to Ithaca annually to discuss issues relating to freedom of the press.