Some pundits are predicting that Ralph Nader could be President Bill Clinton's nemesis come November. Members of the Cornell University and Ithaca communities can make that judgment for themselves on Tuesday, April 23, at 8 p.m., when the consumer advocate, lawyer and presidential hopeful gives a lecture in Cornell's Bailey Hall. Tickets are $3 for Cornell students and $5 for the general public and are on sale at the Willard Straight Hall box office. According to recent editorials in The New York Times and Time magazine, Nader, who has announced his intention to run for president on the Green Party ticket, could cost Clinton much- needed votes in California -- and thereby hand victory in that critical state over to Republican challenger Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan).

But regardless of the election's outcome, Nader, 62, is already legendary. His 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed set in motion a one-man crusade to protect the public from corporate greed and neglect; his efforts stimulated Congress to enact federal motor vehicle safety laws and to call for requirements for airbags and other automobile safety features.

Those efforts have since been taken up by scores of American citizens -- many of them members of groups Nader founded, such as the student-based public interest research groups (PIRGs) and Public Citizen. Nader also has been credited with creation of such consumer protection agencies and laws as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Safe Drinking Water Act. He considers one of his greatest achievements the Freedom of Information Act, originally enacted in 1966 and substantially amended in 1974 to make it easier for citizens, including journalists, to obtain documents being withheld by the government.

Nader's visit to Cornell is being sponsored by the Cornell Programming Board, a student organization.