Conversations on Race VIII at Indiana University South Bend will feature a noted Chicago Tribune columnist speaking on the election and a change in scheduling for the small group discussions.

The eighth installment of the annual campus discussion on the topics of race, equity and society will begin with a lecture by Clarence Page at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, in Recital Hall (Room 158), Northside Hall.

Page will give his analysis of the Nov. 2 election followed by a short question and answer period.

On the following Saturday, Nov. 13, Conversations on Race VIII will be in Wiekamp Hall. The day will begin with registration and a continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. A youth kickoff on civic responsibility will be from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

Following the kickoff, there will be a short break, and at 10:45 a.m. there will be a video presentation of Thursday’s Clarence Page lecture. For those who attended the Thursday evening lecture, IU South Bend Professor Elizabeth Bennion will speak on the election and race. Bennion heads up the American Democracy Project, a campus-wide program to strengthen civic life and involvement.

The small break-out conversations will be from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. The topics will focus on the election and democracy as it relates to different groups. The sessions all will be in Wiekamp Hall.

The day will close with a poetry jam at 1:15 p.m. in Wiekamp Hall, Room 1001.

Charlotte Pfeifer, director of student and community relations, said the change from the Friday that was used for seven conversation events to the new Saturday schedule is to draw more school children and working adults to campus for the event.

Page is an author, commentator and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He has been a member of the editorial board since 1984. Page also worked as director of community affairs and as an on-air reporter at Chicago’s CBS affiliate WBBM-TV. Prior to his work in television he worked for 11 years at the Chicago Tribune as a reporter and editor.

He is the author of several books, including “Showing My Color; Impolite Essays on Race and Identity.” He has published numerous articles in magazines and is a frequent guest on “The McLaughlin Group,” “Lead Story,” and “This Week” and National Public Radio’s “Weekend Sunday.” Page also has served as the host on several PBS documentaries. He does a twice-weekly commentary for WGN-TV, Chicago.

He was inducted in the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 1992 and he received the Pulitzer in 1989 for commentary.

Conversations on Race is sponsored by Bank One, the South Bend Tribune, and the IU South Bend Office of Campus Diversity.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information call (574) 520-4135.