The first time Ralph Nader spoke on the UW-Eau Claire campus, in 1970, there was a moment where he and the audience feared they heard a gunshot.

“He jumped, definitely, and everybody sort of paused for a minute or two and he went on with his speech,” said UW-Eau Claire Foundation president Carole Halberg, who was a student at that time.

As it turned out, no one shot at Nader. Rather, someone sitting near Halberg dropped an umbrella down through the bleachers and the sound of it hitting the ground resembled a gunshot.

Undaunted, Nader will make his third appearance at Eau Claire Tuesday to open the 61st season of The Forum with a lecture titled “World Trade, Globalization and You: Bigger is not Better.”

Richard Lewan, senior and president of the Campus Greens, is familiar with Nader’s writings and is excited to see him speak in person.

“Many people go out in the world and use their time and talent for their own benefit,” Lewan said. “Very few people go out there and make the kind of sacrifices and commitments that Ralph Nader has made to work for the benefit of others.”

Nader spurred the passage of the Clean Air Act and the Freedom of Information Act, and was instrumental in creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Nader’s Forum topic is one that applies to every student, Lewan said.

“We students are all consumers, and consumerism in America plays a pivotal role in world trade and globalization,” Lewan said. “Ralph’s speech should make clear to us how and why our consumer habits affect other areas of the world.”

Nader got the public’s attention in 1965 when his best-selling book, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” exposed unsafe cars.

He has written dozens of books, most recently, “Crashing the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for President.”

“I anticipate that some students will go see him on Tuesday simply to gain an understanding for why several million Americans voted for a third party candidate in the closest presidential election of our times,” Lewan said.

Nader first ran for the U.S. presidency on the Green Party ticket in 1996, capturing fewer than 700,000 votes.

But his 2000 campaign, which focused on public financing of public elections, consumer-powered universal health care and renegotiation of international trade agreements to protect labor rights, environmental standards and American jobs, brought Nader 2.8 million votes.

In Wisconsin, Nader received 1.31 percent of the presidential vote in 1996, and 3.62 percent in 2000.