Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – Hofstra University's NAACP Student Chapter and New Opportunities At Hofstra Program (NOAH) will mark the 100th anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) with a program featuring keynote speaker Elizabeth Eckford on Tuesday, February 17 at 7 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose room of the Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center, North Campus.

Ms. Eckford was one of nine African American students who on Sept. 4, 1957 attempted to attend the all-white Little Rock Central High School after a federal court ordered it integrated. She was surrounded by an angry mob and prevented from entering the school by Arkansas National Guard troops sent there by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. After the nine students were again denied access on September 23, 1957 President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day sent U.S. Army troops to Little Rock to accompany the students inside.

Also sponsored by the Hofstra University's African Peoples Organization, Black Hispanic Alumni Association and Nortel Black Business Council, the program is part of Define '09: New Challenges, New Solutions, a year-long series of programs designed to examine the new presidential administration, its policies and initiatives, the challenges we currently face and ways of addressing our country's most pressing issues.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information, contact NOAH at (516) 463- 5110 Direct. For a complete list of Define '09 programs go to www.hofstra.edu/define09.

The NAACP was established in New York City in 1909 by a multiracial group of activists following race riots in Springfield, Illinois in the summer of 1908. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."

Initiated in 1964, NOAH was one of the first programs of its kind in the United States. It is an admissions and developmental program designed to identify and assist nontraditional students whose educational experience and economic status did not provide them with the opportunity to develop their scholastic abilities to the level requisite for undergraduate admission and study at Hofstra. The New York State Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), established in 1969, provides statewide access at independent colleges and universities to economically and educationally disadvantaged students. NOAH is the Arthur O. Eve HEOP at Hofstra University.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from more than 145 undergraduate and 160 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business; engineering; communication; education, health and human services;  and honors studies, as well as a School of Law. With a student-faculty ratio of 14-to-1, our professors teach small classes averaging 22 students that emphasize interaction, critical thinking and analysis. Hofstra offers a faculty whose highest priority is teaching excellence. The University also provides excellent facilities with state-of-the-art technology, extensive library resources and internship programs that match students’ interests and abilities with appropriate companies and organizations.  The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future.