KU News Release

Former Green Party vice presidential candidate Winona LaDuke to speak at KU

LAWRENCE — Environmentalist and political activist Winona LaDuke will present “Indigenous Thinking in a Time of Climate Change” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 31, at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. LaDuke will discuss environmental sustainability challenges posed by politics and present solutions from indigenous peoples.

“Winona LaDuke will bring a fresh perspective to the institute,” said Jonathan Earle, associate director for programming at the Dole Institute. “She has experience in so many different realms of politics.”

The program, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by Haskell Indian Nations University, the American Indian College Fund, the All-State Foundation, First Nations Students Association, KU Student Senate and the Dole Institute of Politics.

LaDuke is program director of Honor the Earth, a nonprofit organization that works on sustainability and environmental justice with Native American communities. She is a two-time vice presidential candidate (in 1996 and 2000) with presidential hopeful Ralph Nader for the Green Party.

LaDuke is author of several books, including “Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming” (2005) and “Last Standing Woman” (1997). She has been featured in the documentaries “Anthem” and “The Main Stream.” LaDuke was Ms. magazine’s 1997 Woman of the Year and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2007.

“Winona is an engaging speaker that we can learn a lot from,” said Raymond Red Corn, student organizer of the event and First Nations Student Association senator at KU. “She offers a dynamic perspective for problem solving because of her experience as a woman in the national political arena and her success facing challenges of Indigenous issues.”

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