September 8, 2004

The Rev. Jesse Jackson will speak at Columbus State University on today as part of a southern tour to encourage college students to vote.

Jacksons Hope Is On the Way Tour will stop at CSUs Lumpkin Center at 8 p.m. for an event that is free and open to the public. This is the first visit to CSU by Jackson, an American civil rights activist and former U.S. presidential candidate.

CSU is pleased to host this rally to encourage our students to register and to vote, said Columbus State President Frank Brown. Rev. Jackson is recognized as one of the most influential African-Americans in our country and we welcome him to our campus for this event.

Jacksons itinerary calls for him to deliver a motivational speech for about 30 minutes before he delivers a formal appeal for voter registration. Parking for the event will be limited on campus. Visitors to Columbus State University are encouraged to park in various lots around the campus the lot in front of the Lumpkin Center is expected to fill up quickly and take a shuttle to the Lumpkin Center. Shuttles will be running continuously to the Lumpkin Center from about 7 p.m. until 10 p.m.

The speech is coordinated and sponsored by The Citizenship Education Fund to help young and perhaps inexperienced voters learn how to identify and assess the issues for themselves, said a new release from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

We don't want to turn out the vote. We want voters to turn themselves out, because they are turned on about their own political clout. We want a self-sustaining electorate that understands the power of the vote and votes because it is in their own best interest to vote, said Janice Mathis, board member and vice president of the education fund.

Jacksons push for voter registration falls only days after a campuswide voter registration drive on Sept. 9 at the clock tower, sponsored by CSU Knology, WCJZ radio and WRBL. That event is MTVs Choose or Lose voter registration drive.

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For more information, contact the CSU Student Affairs office at 706-568-2273 or the Office of Public Relations at 706-568-2030.