A group of UC Santa Barbara faculty will join Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum to discuss the ramifications of the United States’ response to Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday, Oct. 19, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Multicultural Center Theater. The event is free and open to the public.

Titled “Race and Response in the Wake of Katrina,” the panel discussion will focus on issues related to race, government response, access to resources, and media representation of the disaster.

Melvin Oliver, dean of social sciences at UCSB, will introduce the participants, who are: Carl Gutierrez-Jones, director of the Center for Chicano Studies and moderator; William Freudenburg, professor of environmental studies; Gaye Theresa Johnson, assistant professor of black studies; George Lipsitz, professor of black studies, and Howard Winant, professor of sociology, and Mayor Blum.

The discussion will be followed by a photo presentation by Nathan Bassiouni, a student at Tulane University who was deputized by the National Guard for New Orleans rescue work.

The free event is sponsored by the Department of Black Studies, the Center for Black Studies, and several other campus offices.