SGA lecture to feature real-life 'Indiana Jones' by Kenneth Malone The Ranger Online Reporter

The Fall Distinguished Lecture sponsored by the Student Government Association will present world renowned paleoanthropologist, discoverer, activist and conservationist Dr. Richard Leakey of Kenya.

He will speak Nov. 7 at the Amarillo Civic Center Grand Plaza.

"Dr. Leakey is an equivalent modern-day Indiana Jones, and he will be in the United States for one month," said SGA President Beth Wilhite.

"We are lucky that he accepted our invitation to speak."

Time magazine included Leakey in its "Great Scientists and Thinkers of the Century" in 2000 for his theories on the evolution of humans and other species and his discoveries of fossils related to species Australopithecines near Lake Turkana in Africa.

"Dr. Leakey's activities include being a political activist, which gained him an appointment by the president of Kenya in 1989 to help stop the illegal ivory trade," Wilhite said.

"He survived an airplane crash in which both his legs were lost, and yet he continues to carry on his work."

The Distinguished Lecture Series has brought guests such as Barry Scheck, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Oliver Stone, Sam Donaldson, James Earl Jones and Dan Quayle.

"We have never done anyone like him, and we thought everyone would enjoy him," said Sara Cayton, SGA programming chairwoman.