Author and President of Free the Slaves

The End of Slavery

Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

The world’s leading expert on contemporary slavery will share his vision on how to end slavery in our time. Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science.

Topical Background
According to human rights organizations, scholars, government agencies and journalists, slavery exists in virtually every country of the world and in almost every U.S. state. A growing antislavery movement has been hard at work documenting and exposing this troubling discovery.

Although slavery is illegal in every country of the world, it is estimated that there are more slaves today than ever before: 27 million, which is twice as many as the number of Africans enslaved during the four centuries of the transatlantic slave trade.

Slavery has evolved since the American Civil War when antebellum slavery meant that one person was owned completely by another and could be inherited as property. Today’s slavery, however, is defined as one person forcing another to work without pay, by the use of violence or psychological manipulation.

The different types of slavery that still persist today are:

•Chattel Slavery, where slaves are considered their masters’ Read more

Former President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008)

Morgan Lecture

Challenges to Civil Liberties

Thursday, April 2, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

An interactive and informal conversation with the former ACLU president concerning current and future threats and challenges to civil liberties.

Co-sponsored by Department of Sociology, Department of Political Science, Office of Dean of Students, Women’s Center and Career Center.

Topical Background
In reaction to the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration enacted a series of strong counter-terrorism measures. These policies included aggressive detention procedures, extraordinary rendition of prisoners to various countries, harsh interrogation tactics, and a sweeping domestic and international surveillance policy. While these anti-terrorist policies were all pursued in the name of protecting the country, some contended that they represented a serious threat to civil liberties. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the nation’s oldest and largest civil liberties organization, vigorously opposed these policies from their inception, fighting them in courtrooms and legislative bodies, with varying levels of success.

Both supporters and opponents of former President Bush are closely watching the Obama Administration to see what policies he will pursue in the ongoing war on terrorism. President Obama has already made significant changes, such Read more

Author and Human Rights Activist from Argentina

Writing and the Disappeared of Latin America

Monday, March 30, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

A survivor’s perspective on the role of the writer in the struggle against feminicide and the “disappearing” of political dissidents in Latin America.

Co-sponsored by Latin American Studies, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, and First-Year Seminars.

Topical Background
After Perón’s death in 1974, the Argentinean government was left in the hands of his widow, Isabel Martínez de Perón, who empowered the military and the police to eradicate subversion. In 1976, a military junta seized power in Argentina and carried on a seven-year campaign against individuals who opposed it. Many people were kidnapped and taken to secret detention centers where they were tortured and eventually killed.

Human rights groups in Argentina estimate the number of “disappeared” to be close to 30,000. Many of these were peaceful citizens, writers, workers, and housewives not involved in politics. The dictatorship forced many individuals into exile, especially intellectuals, artists, and political activists. Between 1970 and 1985, nearly half a million citizens left Argentina for other Latin American countries, the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe, especially Spain.

About the Speaker Read more

Founding Member and National Coordinator of SisterSong

Is Choice a Human Right? Reproductive Justice in the U.S.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.
Co-sponsored by the Department of American Studies.

Topical Background
Some consider a safe and healthy birth a human right. In the U.S., however, it is not a right that is fully protected for all women, especially women of color. African American women die during childbirth three to four times more often than white women.

SisterSong Women’s Health Collective is an organization attempting to limit needless deaths by shifting the focus of reproductive justice to the oppression women encounter during child birth through “their bodies, sexuality, labor and reproduction.” As the organization’s motto states, SisterSong is committed to “doing collectively what we cannot do individually.”

SisterSong began in 1997, with a grant from the Ford Foundation, and provides access to health services, along with relevant information and resources that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. In an effort to achieve reproductive justice, this collective works to “strengthen and amplify the collective voices of indigenous women and women of color” through public policy work, advocacy, service delivery and health education within our communities on the Read more

Senior Policy Counsel, Microsoft, Author, and Metzger-Conway Fellow

Free the Internet?

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Governments around the world are pressuring internet-related companies to comply with local laws that arguably conflict with internationally recognized human rights of freedom of expression and privacy. How should companies like Microsoft respond

Topical Background
In the early 1960s, the United States government wanted to create a network that would allow officials to exchange classified scientific and military information on research and development. With concerns about the Cold War and a fear of the Soviet Union’s technological capabilities, those in command needed a communications system that would function during and after a nuclear attack.

In response to this situation, the government established the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a “galactic” computer network. Officially called ARPANET, this new system employed the theory of packet switching, where encoded messages are broken up into small pieces and transmitted over a channel, which formed the basis of internet connections. At first, ARPANET was connected to only four major computers at universities in the western United States (UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UCSB, and the University of Utah). Initially limited to only Read more

Bestselling Author and Former Head of the CIA’s bin Laden Unit

Marching Toward Hell

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.
“Continuing the Conversation” immediately following the presentation, Stern 102

What policies should the Obama administration pursue with regard to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Iran in the ongoing war against terrorism?

Topical Background
On September 20, 2001, President Bush officially launched the controversial “Global War on Terrorism”. “Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda,” Bush proclaimed, “but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

Terrorism was defined in the first National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, published in February 2003, as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.”

The Bush administration initially identified two primary objectives in its “Global War on Terrorism”: to stop terrorist attacks against the United States, its citizens, its interests, and our friends and allies around the world and to create an international environment inhospitable to terrorists and all those who support them.

About the Speaker
Michael Scheuer worked at the CIA on national security issues related to Islamic extremism for Read more

Author, Ph.D., JD, MPH, RHIT and Metzger-Conway Fellow

7 Steps to Your Best Possible Healthcare

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.
Book signing to follow.

President Obama has reviewed Dr. Russo’s book and provided supportive testimony for her work regarding how Americans can be proactive in their healthcare planning for themselves and their loved ones.

The U.S. healthcare system is complex and challenging, but positive steps can be taken. Dr. Russo’s book, 7 Steps to Your Best Possible Healthcare, was reviewed by President Obama and he provided supportive testimony for her work. The following is a brief outline of the book:

•Step 1: Create Your Vision. Learn to develop a plan for your healthcare and health status using your own values, vision, and mission statements.

•Step 2: Own Your Story. Be informed about your medical records or healthcare biography.

•Step 3: Build Your Relationships. Be aware of your rights and responsibilities as a patient and learn how to improve communication between you and your physicians and other members of your healthcare team.

•Step 4: Assess Quality. Define exactly what quality in healthcare means to you and learn how to use internet-based tools to assess the Read more

New York Theater Artist

You Never Get to Make Out

Thursday, February 5, 2009
Mathers Theatre – 7:00 p.m.

Dan Fishback is queer and Jewish and can’t tell the difference between the two. In his new talk, “You Never Get To Make Out,” the performance artist wonders why life in the shadow of death and destruction is so genuinely hilarious. Through a combination of humorous anecdotes and serious intellectual analysis, Fishback paints a portrait of post-Holocaust, post-80s-AIDS anxiety in an age of irony and detachment. Based largely on his new play, “You Will Experience Silence,” Fishback created this informal talk as a way to casually discuss philosophical issues without the dramatic pretenses of character, set design and heavy lighting equipment. Called “a cross between Woody Allen and Karen Finley,” his boisterous presence serves as a bridge between contemporary indie sensibility and classic Jewish humor.

Dan Fishback has been making surreal, political queer theater in NYC since 2003. His current work is being supported by the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists. His past theater projects have been performed at Galapagos Art Space, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and many other New York venues. In 2007, he sat on Read more

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7:30 p.m.

Jeff Milstein, senior broadcast producer
Scott Keeter, director of Survey Research at Pew Research Center
Adora Mora, documentary participant
Moderated by Judy Woodruff, award-winning PBS journalist

What role did young Americans play in electing the first African-American president in the historic 2008 election?

Co-sponsored by the Office of Dean of Students, and Vice-President for Enrollment and College Relations.

View the PBS Generation Next documentary.

Video of the Program
Read more

LL.M., Partner London Office Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Metzger-Conway

Fellow

Human Rights: An Analysis of Saudi Arabia and the Impact of Islam

Monday, November 24, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Using Saudi Arabia as a case study, this talk will explore human rights in the Middle East from the perspective of the Muslim world and Sharia law. Particular attention will be paid to capital punishment, sexism, homophobia, immigration, divorce and inheritance.

Topical Background
Saudi Arabia is ruled by the Saudi royal family within a framework that is based on sharia law. Sharia law, in turn, is derived from the Qur’an, other religious texts of Islam, interpretations and precedents. Elements of sharia law, in some ways, stand in opposition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. The practice of sharia law in Saudi Arabia has witnessed the oppression of minority groups, including religious and sexual minorities. In particular, women’s rights are often a point of contention because of the extent to which gender-based discrimination pervades Saudi society. These problems and concerns reappear in many other countries of the Middle East.

Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” concept is certainly worth considering when Read more

Pamela Newkirk, associate professor of journalism, New York University

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Co-sponsored by the Andrews Fund.

Reception to follow sponsored by the Central PA Alumni Club.

Topical Background

In one of the most electrified and contested presidential elections in history, the American public faced daily bombardment of the latest statistics, allegations and controversies for more than a year by pollsters, pundits, analysts and journalists alike. But what was the role of race in the media coverage of the 2008 presidential election, and how might it have shaped popular opinion or fueled racial divisions?

Religion, race and gender have always played significant roles in America’s development. To say that the 2008 presidential election was historic is now a cliché. President-elect Barack Obama confronted (and continues to face) the issues of race that were left unresolved by our founding fathers and has persisted as a malignancy in the body politic ever since.
The media reported on an issue that has been debated for decades in elections featuring Black candidates: the “Bradley effect.” Tom Bradley was a former African-American mayor of Los Angeles who narrowly lost the 1982 California governor’s race to Republican George Read more

Luke Bernstein ’01, Executive Director of the PA State Republican Party

Mary Isenhour, Executive Director of the PA State Democratic Party

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

“Continuing the Conversation” session following the program in Stern Center, Room 102. Refreshments sponsored by the Central PA Alumni Club.

The session to be moderated by James Hoefler, Political Science Department.

The race for president will surely take many interesting and unexpected twists and turns as the fall campaign season rolls on toward Election Day, November 4. Pennsylvania is traditionally one of the “must have” swing states and its 21 Electoral College votes promise to be among the most contested prizes in the county again this year. Join us for a session with two ultimate insiders for some insightful analysis of what happened and why.

About the Speakers
Luke Bernstein ’01, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Republican Party, worked last year with former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and guided the state GOP to many critical and successful wins in 2007. During the 2008 presidential race, he worked within the Republican Party to promote Republican Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain.

Mary Isenhour, executive director of the Pennsylvania Read more

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

A panel of Dickinson College professors will examine U.S. domestic policy to better understand the challenges Senator Obama or McCain will face if elected. Student representatives from College Democrats and College Republicans will ask questions of the panelists prior to the general question and answer session.

Topical Background
A country’s domestic policy is a set of guidelines which outline how the federal government will direct its internal affairs (the everyday lives of its citizens and their communities). The growth of transnational issues means that very few issues today are considered solely the province of domestic policy. However, topics such as the health care system, including both Medicare and Medicaid, the state of the economy and job creation, the rise of gas prices, the debate over illegal immigration, the educational system, the regulation of business and industry, and the protection of civil liberties have all been debated throughout the 2008 presidential election because their impact is visible and immediate for many American voters. More recently, attention has centered on the financial crisis, which has produced a credit freeze that many fear could result in an economic depression. A panel of Read more