Fall 2009-- The lecture series co-sponsored with the KSSU UPC the presententation of this year’s Fall lecture, a part of the Celebration of Constitution Day, “Guns on Campus? The New Understanding of the Right to Bear Arms ” on Wednesday, September 16, 2009.
Following the 2008 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case of District of Columbia v. Heller, many critical questions remain to be decided. These questions include whether or not this newly recognized personal constitutional right even applies to the States under the 14th Amendment. Two legal experts on Second Amendment law, Professor William Merkel of Washburn Law School and Professor Raymond Diamond of Louisiana State University held a dialogue, led a discussion, and debated these unanswered questions about your constitutional right to possess weapons in your personal lives and for purposes unrelated to military service. The debate was moderated by lecture series committee member and Washburn Law School Professor, Professor Michael Kaye.
Spring 2009-- We were delighted to present this year’s Spring lecture, “Arthur Fletcher: What Would the ‘Father of Affirmative Action’ Think of His Child Today?” on Thursday, April 2, 2009.
Professor Mark Peterson, Chair of the Washburn University Department of Political Science, was our speaker. He chronicled the life and times of the late Arthur Fletcher: a federal public official and notable Kansan often called the “Father of Affirmative Action”. Fletcher was an energetic and forceful champion of affirmative action for most of his long life. Today, affirmative action remains contentious and provocative, and people frequently wrangle and quarrel over its meaning and justification. Dr. Peterson updated us on the current status of the affirmative action debate and also described Arthur Fletcher’s efforts, after the landmark decision Brown v Board of Education, to bring about the goals and benefits of affirmative action.
During the 2007-2008 academic year generous support allowed us to bring Dr. Mary Frances Berry, former Chairperson of the Civil Rights Commission, to our campus as part of the Diversity Summit.
During September 2008 the lecture series sponsored the showing of the film, “Crash.” “Crash” is a three-time Academy Award winner for best picture that examines the complexity of racial intolerance in contemporary America. The screen play for “Crash” was co-written by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco. To learn more about the movie “Crash”, you may want to visit the following website: http://www.crashfilm.com/. Then click on “Experience the Film.”
In addition the lecture series also hosted a panel discussion on racial profiling as part of the events associated with Constitution Week. Presented were the views from two members of the Governor’s Taskforce on Racial Profiling, Danielle Dempsey-Swopes, the Executive Director of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission, and Steve Cisneros, the Executive Director of the Kansas Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission. Kansas Court of Appeals Judges Nancy Caplinger, Henry Green and Richard Greene, talked about the operative laws in Kansas and federal cases that have addressed the issue of racial profiling. Kyle Smith, current legal advisor of the Topeka Police Department and former Deputy Director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation moderated the panel.
Mira Mdivani, Imigration Attorney, presented "Brown is the New Black and Green Cards are Pink: Immigration Law for Normal People."
Amabassador Edward Perkins, former Ambassador to the U.N., Liberia, South Africa, and Australia, presented "Civil Rights and Citizens' Rights: Our Constitution."
"Civil Rights and Same Sex Couples" debate presented by Pedro Irigonegaray and Joel Oster, and moderated by Professor Bill Rich.
Judge Paul Brady, Federal Administrative Law Judge, "The Twoness in America: Black and American"
Professor Patricia Williams (.pdf), Professor at Columbia University Law School, "Civil Rights in an Era of Social Wrongs," Co-sponsored by the Lou Douglas Lecture Series and the University Distinguished Lecture Series.
Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, "Guantánamo, Enemy Combatants, and Torutre: The End of the Rule of Law in America"
Arthur A. Benson II, Civil Rights Attorney, "Brown v. Topeka Board of Education: 50 Years of Doing Right for the Wrong Reason?"
Jeannine Bell, Associate Professor of Law, "On the Frontlines of the Battle Against Hate Crimes"
Stephen Jones, Attorney-at-Law, "Representing a Terrorist in Court"
Marianne (Mimi) Wesson, "Chilling Effects: Cross-burning, Pornography and Censorship"
Anthony Romero, Executive Director, ACLU, "The State of Our Civil Liberties"
Cheryl Brown Henderson, Ronald C. Griffin, Stephen A. Adams, "Giving Visibility, Voice and Victory to the Disenfranchised: A Legacy of Brown v. The Board of Education."
Lani
Guinier, Civil Rights Activist
Co-sponsored with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance Week Committee
Robert Meeropol, "The Death Penalty: The Rosenbergs and Mumia Abu-Jamal"
Barbara Bergmann, "Bringing About Equality Between Women and Men: What Needs To Be Done"
Mayor Bob Knight, "Undoing Racism"
Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, "Human Rights and the Media"
Noam
Chomsky, "Sovereignty and World Order"
Co-sponsored with the Lou Douglas Lecture Series
Barry W. Lynn, "Religious Right-Radically Wrong"
Gwendolyn Mink, "Feminists and Poor Single Mothers: Work, Welfare, and Women's Equality"
Valorie K. Vojdik, Lead Counselor in Faulkner vs. Citadel
Professor Camille Hebert, Ohio State University College of Law
Morris Dees, Jr., Southern Poverty Law Center, Chief Trial Counselor
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Former Surgeon General