"We have a moral responsibility to those in Liberia… college students as voters need to know what is going on," Schmidt said.

Schmidt said she hopes to emphasize how bad the conditions are in Liberia through her speech. According to Schmidt, the food situation and living conditions are horrible in Liberia.

While Schmidt thinks President Bush doesn't want to get involved, she said that as Americans, we should empathize and help those in need.

Schmidt is addressing a politically hot topic on campus, according to Michael Fleet, professor of Political Science. He said that historically the U.S. has a foreign policy that doesn't pay attention to Africa.

"This raises all kinds of questions in regards to race and (how we act) towards third-world countries," he said.

He said that this topic should be appealing to students due to its political nature.

"It should be interesting to see how (this topic) challenges the U.S. and it's leaders," Fleet said. "The plight of Liberians should call us as American's to help."

According to Schmidt, the role that the U.S. plays in Liberia should be interesting to students because the U.S. actually plays a smaller role than it should. She said that she is horrified by the conditions in Liberia and she hopes to get college students aware of the dire situations there.

Schmidt said that Americans don't have very much information on conflicts that occur in Africa.

"By coming, I hope that students will at least have a background on one conflict and understand that we bear a responsibility as to what is going on in Liberia," Schmidt said.

The U.S. has responsibility for several reasons, she said. One reason is due to our history there.

"Liberia was actually founded by the U.S. as a civilization for former slaves," she said.

She said that since America helped found it, they should also help solve some of the current problems.

Schmidt is coming for other reasons as well. Assistant professor of history Nicholas Creary, who organized the speaker series, said he wanted to bring in Schmidt so students could be informed as to what is going on in Africa and to see what an African Historian does.

Schmidt's "early work in Africa has won several awards. She just studies a different thing and she does it well. She's well connected and well informed (in regards to what is occurring in Africa)," Creary said.

He said that Schmidt would be able to bring in a different perspective because of her studies in Africa.

Schmidt received her doctorate in African History from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She has researched in Zimbabwe and Guinea.

"I really became interested in Africa during the anti-apartheid movement," she said.

Schmidt is part of an African Speaker series. According to Creary, Marquette will have one African History speaker per semester due to a grant given to the university.

She is currently a professor at Loyola College in Maryland. Schmidt will be at Clark Hall tonight from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.