Soledad O’Brien is set to speak at Appalachian State University on Tuesday, April 1 at 7 p.m. at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, said Augusto Peña, director of Multicultural Student Development.

O’Brien, an award-winning journalist, documentarian, news anchor and producer, was scheduled to speak at Appalachian on Jan. 21 for the 30th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration lecture before the talk was postponed due to weather-related safety concerns.

While the talk is still titled Diversity: On TV, Behind the Scenes and In Our Lives, the event will not focus as much around the MLK Commemoration aspects, due to scheduling, Peña said.

“Her comments will probably stay pretty consistent with what she was planning for in January,” Pena said. “We are building it as a talk given by Soledad O’Brien, and it just will not have the same production value that would come if it were the MLK Commemoration.”

Peña said that anyone attending will still hear her thoughts on the importance of diversity, as well as her different opinions and work she has done in broadcasting over the years.

April 1 was the first available date for both O’Brien and the Schaefer Center.

“Initially when we had the date for Jan. 21, we had pretty much most of the year to come up with that date,” Pena said. “When we were unable to make that date work, we were really behind on trying to find another one that would work for our venue as well as her schedule. April 1 was the first opportunity we saw.”

Multicultural Student Development is presenting the event along with the University Forum Committee.

O’Brien has launched documentary series such as “Black in America” and “Latino in America,” as well as launching Starfish Media Group, a multi-platform media production and distribution company.

The event is free and open to the public.

Story: Gerrit Van Genderen, News Reporter