Religious discrimination and hate crimes focus of Rice event

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

Religious discrimination and hate crimes focus of Rice event

HOUSTON – (Oct. 1, 2018) – Rice University will host “From Discrimination to Hate Crimes: A Conversation on What Some Religious Americans Are Facing Today” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 3 in Sewall Hall on the Rice campus.

Collage of religious protest photos. Submitted photos.The event will include a panel discussion with Rabbi Steven Morgen of Congregation Beth Yeshurun; Christopher Scheitle, an assistant professor of sociology at West Virginia University; and Manpreet Singh with The Sikh Coalition. The panelists will discuss the experiences of victims of religious discrimination and religiously motivated hate crimes in the U.S. today.

“The religious landscape of the U.S. has changed dramatically in the past 30 years, and religiously motivated hate crimes are on the rise in the U.S.,” said Elaine Howard Ecklund, director of Rice’s Religion and Public Life Program and the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences, who will moderate the discussion. “We want to hear from faith leaders how these incidents have come up in their communities and how they have responded, as well as what research tells us about the crimes that are occurring and against whom.”

Who:              Rice’s Religion and Public Life Program.

What:             Panel discussion, “From Discrimination to Hate Crimes: A Conversation on What Some Religious Americans Are Facing Today.”

When:            Oct. 3, 7-8:30 p.m.

Where:           309 Sewall Hall, Rice University campus.

For more information or to RSVP to the event, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

For a map of Rice University’s campus, go to http://www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.

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Related materials:

Religion and Public Life Program website: https://rplp.rice.edu/

Photo link: http://news.rice.edu/files/2018/10/Picture1-1ed65o1.jpg

Photo credit: Submitted photo.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,970 undergraduates and 2,934 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.

About Amy McCaig

Amy is a senior media relations specialist in Rice University's Office of Public Affairs.