Miss Manners To Give Sept. 20 Address At Duke On Public Civility

DURHAM, N.C. - Nationally syndicated "Miss Manners" columnist and etiquette expert Judith Martin will speak about public civility in a Sept. 20 lecture on Duke University's East Campus.

The 7 p.m. talk, titled "The Civility Wars," is free and open to the public.

Martin's lecture will be held in the new Richard White Lecture Hall adjacent to the East Duke Building. University co-sponsors of the event are the Gerst Program in Political, Economic & Humanistic Studies and the Kenan Institute for Ethics.

"Miss Manners is America's most influential commentator on contemporary mores," said Michael Gillespie, director of the Gerst Program. "She has shown us how vitally important manners remain in an increasingly informal world."

Martin has chronicled American manners since 1978 in her "Miss Manners" newspaper column. Distributed three times a week by United Features Syndicate, the column is carried in more than 200 newspapers in the United States and abroad. A former reporter, feature writer and critic at The Washington Post for 25 years, she also authored 10 books on etiquette and appears frequently on national television and radio shows.

"Miss Manners shows us how everyday etiquette relates to big questions about public and private morality and social justice," said Elizabeth Kiss, director of the Kenan Institute. "And she does it with humor and flair."

In her column, Martin has taken on questions about romance, work, family, relationships, child-rearing and death, as well as philosophical and moral dilemmas. In recent years, she has turned her attention to political correctness, free speech and road rage.

The New York Times declared Martin's work "an impassioned plea for a return to civilized behavior." Critic Charlie Toft wrote that she offers "some of the toughest social criticism you are likely to read."

The Gerst Program at Duke focuses on the theoretical foundations of freedom and responsibility, the development of liberty, the role of freedom in political and economic institutions and the character of morally responsible behavior. The Kenan Institute for Ethics, established at Duke in 1995, supports the study and teaching of ethics and promotes moral inquiry, reflection and commitment in personal, academic, professional, community and civic life.

For more information about Miss Manners' lecture, contact the Kenan Institute for Ethics at 660-3033.

Note to editors: A photograph of Judith Martin as "manners.jpg" at http://photo1.dukenews.duke.edu/pages/Duke_News_Service. Reporters planning to attend the event should contact Blake Dickinson by Sept. 19 to reserve seating and/or space for camera equipment.