CONTACT: Julie Navejar
kajam03@tamuk.edu or 361-593-2590

Ralph Nader is Speaker for Lecture at Texas A&M-Kingsville

Ralph Nader

Nader’s lecture, “The Way It Is,” begins at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in Jones Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for faculty and staff from A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Students from both universities may get an advance ticket free with a valid identification card.

Tickets may be purchased at the information desk in A&M-Kingsville’s Student Union Building, by visiting www.startickets.com or calling 1-888-597-7827.

Sponsors also are needed to help underwrite the lecture. All persons donating will receive a number of tickets, preferred seating at the lecture and their names in the program. Persons donating $200 and above will be invited to a private dinner and reception. Sponsor ticket packages include $800 and above, eight tickets; $600 to $799, six tickets; $400 to $599, four tickets; $100 to $399, two tickets; and $50 to $99, one ticket.

To guarantee a name in the program, please make the donation or pledge by Wednesday, March 26. Contact the Office of Student Affairs at 361-593-3612.

Nader has been called one of America’s most effective social critics, but he has also been called everything from muckraker to consumer crusader to public defender. His documented
criticism of government and industry has had a widespread effect on public awareness and bureaucratic power. Time magazine called him “the U.S.’s toughest customer.”

Nader was born in Winsted, Conn. He received an AB magna cum laude from Princeton University and an LLB with distinction from Harvard University.

He began his law career in Hartford, Connecticut in 1959 and from 1961 to 1963 he lectured on history and government at the University of Hartford. In 1965-66, he received the Nieman Fellows Award and in 1967 he was named one of the ten Outstanding Young Men of the Year by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce. Time magazine named Nader one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th Century.

Between 1967 and 1968 he returned to Princeton as a lecturer and he continues to speak at colleges and universities across the United States.

In his career as a consumer advocate, Nader has founded many organizations, including the Center for Study of Responsive Law, the Public Interest Research Group, the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen, Clean Water Action Project, the Disability Rights Center, the Pension Rights Center, the Project for Corporate Responsibility and the monthly magazine The Multinational Monitor.

In 1965 Nader took on the automobile industry with his book Unsafe at Any Speed, an exposé of the disregard carmakers held for the safety of their consumers. The Senate hearing into Nader’s accusations and the life-saving motor vehicle safety laws that resulted catapulted Nader into the public sphere.

Nader was instrumental in creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Laws he
helped draft and pass include the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Meat and Poultry Inspection Rules, the Air and Water Pollution Control Laws and the Freedom of Information Act.

In 2000 Nader ran for United States president as a candidate for the Green Party. His campaign focused on establishing a viable third party, attacking corporate wealth and protecting the environment.

Among his best-selling books are Winning the Insurance Game; Why Women Pay More; and Getting the Best from Your Doctor. His most recent books include Children First: A Parents’ Guide to Fighting Corporate Predators; No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America; and The Ralph Nader Reader.

His most recent bestseller is Crashing the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for President.

For ticket information call 361-593-3104.

-TAMUK-