Jose Antonio Vargas will speak and screen his documentary at WSU

Jose Antonio Vargas, an award-winning journalist turned immigration rights activist, will speak and screen a documentary at Washington State University next week.

Vargas won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 while working for the Washington Post for his coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. But in 2011 he revealed in an essay in the New York Times Magazine that he was an undocumented immigrant and had been hiding that status for 18 years. Vargas moved to the United States from the Philippines when he was 12. Now he runs a nonprofit he founded that focuses on immigration and citizenship.

Vargas was invited to WSU by the school’s Student Entertainment Board. He’ll screen a documentary he directed, “White People,” on Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. in the CUB Auditorium; admission is free. Then he’ll speak on Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. in the CUB Senior Ballroom; admission to that event is free to students and $5 for the public.