Gary Orfield, co-director of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, and Spelman College President Beverly Tatum, author of “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race,” will discuss School Desegregation in the 21st Century: Fulfilling the Promise of Brown at 7:30 p.m. March 25 in Rackham Auditorium.

Tatum’s book tackles a theme frequently debated by students during U-M’s semester-long series of events marking the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. The book is being read and discussed by groups of readers throughout the region as part of Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads.

Orfield, a professor of education and social policy and founding co-director of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, has spent his career focused on school desegregation and the implementation of civil rights laws.

His most recent books include “Racial Inequity in Special Education” and “Raising Standards? Raising Barriers? Inequity and High-Stakes Testing in Public Education.”

For more information on Brown-related events, visit http://www.umich.edu/brown50.