TAMIU International Leadership Series Features Exonerated Innocent Man Huwe Burton
Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) will present the next installment of its 2020-2021 International Leadership Series featuring Huwe Burton, an exonerated innocent man and beneficiary of the Innocence Project , Friday, Nov. 13 at 11:30 a.m. in a virtual event.
Burton, whose wrongful 1991 murder conviction was vacated by the Supreme Court for Bronx County, New York last year, will be the featured guest during the virtual presentation, titled, “When Policing Goes Wrong: A Conversation with Huwe Burton.”
The virtual event is free and open to the public. Participants can RSVP at https://trailblazers.tamiu.edu/event/6449546
Presented by TAMIU’s Office of Student Orientation, Leadership Engagement and the Office of International Education (SOLE), the conversation will focus on criminal justice reform as participants hear Burton’s remarkable story of exoneration. Burton is a beneficiary of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization which aims to exonerate the innocent through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustices. To learn more about Huwe Burton, visit his story.
Dr. Nicholas Hudson, TAMIU SOLE program director, said TAMIU looks forward to Burton’s virtual visit with the campus community.
“We are thrilled to have Mr. Huwe Burton visit with our campus community to share his remarkable and harrowing story of exoneration through DNA testing and false confessions as it demonstrates a necessity to critically examine the criminal justice system,” he said, “At a time when the national spotlight is on criminal justice reform and racial equity, this is an important and timely conversation to have.”
While Criminal Justice is one of the most popular majors at TAMIU, it is important to expose all students and community members to the lived experiences of those who have encountered those systems, Dr. Hudson said.
“This allows us all to understand some of the failings so that we may develop solutions to prevent future injustices,” he said.
TAMIU SOLE and the Office of International Engagement partnered to create the International Leadership Series, in an effort to fulfill TAMIU’s mission to build global citizens, Hudson explained. The Series is a premier leadership program at TAMIU that examines the seven elements of global citizenship as defined by Oxfam by featuring speakers discussing domestic and global challenges related to the one element.
In the 2019-2020 academic year, sustainable development was the central element under examination. The selected element of global citizenship for 2020-2021 academic year is social justice and equity. The entire 2020-2021 series is titled, “The Power of the People: Social Justice and Equity.”
For more information, please contact Dr. Hudson at 956.326.2283, email Nicholas.hudson@tamiu.edu or visit TAMIU’s Diversity and Inclusion website at https://www.tamiu.edu/diversity/