Continuing its 18-month series titled "The Changing Face of America," National Public Radio will tackle affirmative action and higher education issues when it arrives at the University for a live broadcast March 29.

Juan Williams, the host of NPR"s "Talk of the Nation," will host the two-hour show, which will take place between 2 and 4 p.m. in Rackham Amphitheater. Guests from higher education institutions across the country will take questions from callers and audience members. The event is open to the public.

"Talk of the Nation" producer John Ogulnik said the guests scheduled for the higher education panel include University President Lee Bollinger, Central Washington University President Gerilyn McIntyre and MacAllister College President Michael McPherson. A community college president will also be invited.

"As we talk about these issues, we wanted to reflect all levels of higher education," Ogulnik said, "We feel we have all sides represented here."

For the affirmative action panel, the only confirmed guest is John McWharter, an assistant linguistics professor and affirmative action opponent form the University of California at Berkeley.

The program is coming to Ann Arbor because of an invitation from the University campus station WUOM and because of the "loyal listenership" in the city, Ogulnik said.

He added that the University is ideal for the issues scheduled for discussion.

"We try to find topics that are hot in the market of the location but also have a national trend," Ogulnik said. "At one of the finest institutions in the country, we thought we"d like to talk about higher education. And, obviously, affirmative action is a major issue here."

The broadcast is part of the University"s Dialogues on Diversity, an effort to initiate discussion on current diversity issues. Pat McCune, program coordinator for the Dialogues, said she"s been trying for some time to bring NPR to the University by emphasizing the University"s role in the issues.

"These are very important issues," she said. "With a new president who seems to be emphasizing education, there"s a renewed focus on higher education throughout the country."

She added that the affirmative action lawsuits challenging the University make affirmative action a timely topic for the radio show.

McCune said that while the time of the show may make it inconvenient for students to attend the broadcast, the effort will be worthwhile.

"This is another venue, another opportunity, another forum for students to not just speak, but also to listen," McCune said, "That"s why they"re here. If they didn"t want to listen to the University community, they wouldn"t be here."

Rackham Dean Earl Lewis also emphasized what the potential discussion could offer students.

"Students have the opportunity to exchange views and perspectives nationally, with the live call-in," Lewis said.

Lewis said the show was here a couple of years ago. By highlighting the success of the previous trip as well as the quality of the issues discussed, Lewis said the University was able to persuade NPR to make another trip.