Hofstra University - Hempstead, NY - For the eighth time since 2004, Hofstra's Center for Civic Engagement will present an entire day of discussion with students, faculty, staff and special guests addressing key public policy issues and challenges.  Day of Dialogue VIII: Public Issues in a Global World promises a host of timely topics, debates, panels and performances, addressing such issues as immigration, the economy and the proposed Muslim cultural center near the former World Trade Center site.

One of the main themes of the day, immigration, will be addressed in three of the 21 Day of Dialogue events.  In a morning session from 10:10 a.m. to 11:05 a.m. freelance journalist Froylán Encisco Higuera will lead the discussion Drug Wars in Mexico.  Later on in the evening, from 6pm-8pm, Hofstra student-run radio station WRHU 88.7 F.M. will conduct a special town hall meeting and panel entitled, From the Border Wall to the Classroom, Arizona to Patchogue: Immigration as a Human Rights Issue, hosted by Mario Murillo, Associate Professor in Hofstra's Department of Radio, Television and Film. WRHU will play the recorded broadcast the following day.  The final event of the day, a performance of "Who Killed Marcelo Lucero?" features the performance group Teatro Experimental Yerbabruja and is based on the murder of the Ecuadorian immigrant in 2008 in Patchogue, NY.  The performance will be just shy of the two-year anniversary of his death on November 8^th 2008.  Hofstra University hosted the debut of the play last year as part of the National Center for Suburban Studies' conference on Suburban Diversity.

In addition to the topic of immigration, Day of Dialogue VIII will include a wealth of current newsworthy discussions.  Park 51: A Mosque at Ground Zero?, a panel featuring Featuring Hofstra professor and Religion Dispatches associate editor Hussein Rashid, Fordham University professor Father Patrick Ryan and Rabbi Leonard School of the Quest Center for Spiritual Inquiry, Park Avenue Christian Church will be held from 2:55 p.m. -4:20 p.m.  Later, from 4:30 p.m. -6:00 p.m., former members of the military will lead the panel, Telling in Living Color: Gay Veterans of Color Talk About Don't Ask Don't Tell.

"We introduced Day of Dialogue in 2004 as a response to faculty and students' desire to bring serious issues to the forefront in an open dialogue environment," said Cynthia Bogard, Hofstra professor and the Director for the Center for Civic Engagement.  "Particularly prior to the 2010 mid-term election, there is a need to open up a campus-wide civil and public dialogue on issues of public importance..  This year, we felt that immigration should be addressed and we decided to use journalism, a town hall meeting format and performance as ways to get citizens to think seriously about this issue.

All three immigration events will be held at the Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater on the first floor of Axinn Library. The days' other events will take place in various venues around campus.  The events are free and open to the public. No registration required.  For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit hofstra.edu/dayofdialogue.

Believing that informed and involved students are more likely to participate in the democratic process, Hofstra University founded the Center for Civic Engagement to encourage students to become active citizens. Among the principles the Center stress are freedom of speech and expression, respect for others, appreciation for diverse persons and viewpoints, the ethics of public issues, personal and group empowerment, social and economic equality, and preservation of the environment.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution of higher education where more than 12,000 full and part-time students choose from undergraduate and graduate offerings in liberal arts and sciences, business, engineering, communication, education, health and human services, honors studies, a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. With a small average class size (22 students) and low student-teacher ratio (14 to 1), 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. Located in Nassau County, New York, on over 240 acres, the University is less than an hour from midtown Manhattan.

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