Stephen Hagan delivers his message at Stanford

USQ Associate Lecturer Stephen Hagan has taken his campaign to fight the use of the ‘N word' to the United States of America.

The 2006 National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Indigenous Person of the Year was invited to Stanford University in California to address staff and students on his push to remove the word ‘Nigger' from a sports ground in Toowoomba.

'I was invited by the Anthropology Department at Stanford University to come and speak and I was honoured to be asked, as Stanford is one of the Sandstone universities in America, and one of the most prestigious in the world,' Mr Hagan said.

'I presented a one hour paper with short video documenting the course of my cases to students, Professors and Civic Leaders.'

Speaking in front of a captivated audience, Mr Hagan said that the response to the speech was one of bewilderment.

'The Americans couldn't believe it, the absurdity of the case meant that they were quite shocked,' he said.

'They said that if something like this occurred in America there would be large protests, and people picketing outside the venue continuously.'

The trip was organised in part by NAIDOC, who asked Mr Hagan to take his message to universities across the globe as part of his duties as the Indigenous Person of the Year, with Stanford the first of several speaking visits planned for 2007.

'This was part of a plan by NAIDOC to get the Indigenous Person of the Year to speak at several international universities around the world and I was given the opportunity to trial the idea.

'Other universities I plan on visiting include Oxford in the UK, Victoria University in Canada, Harvard in the USA, Hawaii, Auckland, Monash and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

'It is exciting, I am glad to be the first winner of the Award to get the chance to speak at these Universities.'

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628, 0403 643 192