Baldy Center Sets Spring Semester Events

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy in the UB Law School has announced a full schedule of events for the spring semester, including a visiting scholars series, a faculty seminar series and numerous workshops and conferences on a variety of topics.

All UB faculty, graduate students and law students are invited to attend. All events will be held in 545 O'Brian Hall, North Campus, unless otherwise indicated.

The Visiting Scholars Series will continue on April 14 with a presentation by Beth Simmons, Department of Political Science, Harvard University, on "International Law Compliance and Human Rights." The lecture, to be held from 3-5 p.m., will be cosponsored with the Political Science Graduate Student Association.

Kevin Boyle, Department of History, Ohio State University, and winner of the 2004 National Book Award for "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age," will speak from 2:30-4 p.m. April 25. His lecture, entitled "The Ossian Sweet Case and the Course of Civil Rights," will be cosponsored with the departments of African American Studies, American Studies, History and Sociology.

The Visiting Scholar Presentations will conclude on May 10 with a lecture by Pierre d'Argent, University of Louvain, Belgium, on "Rethinking the Law of War." The presentation, scheduled from 12:30-2:30 p.m., will feature Mark Drumble of Washington & Lee Law School, and David Westbrook, professor in the UB Law School, as commentators.

The Faculty Seminar on Institutional Analysis of Law, Politics and Society will feature a lineup of distinguished speakers drawn from political science, sociology and law, as well as presentations of related works in progress by members of the UB faculty. All seminars will take place from 12:30-2 p.m. in 545 O'Brian Hall

The lineup:

• Feb. 25: Athena Mutua, associate professor, UB Law School, "An Emerging New Equality Paradigm: Kenyan Women in the Constitutional Review Process." Isabel Marcus, professor, UB Law School, and Claude Welch, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Political Science, will serve as commentators

• March 4: Ethan Michelson, Department of Sociology, University of Indiana, "Global Institutions, Indigenous Meaning: Lessons from Chinese Law for the New Institutionalism." Roger des Forges, professor, UB Department of History, will serve as commentator.

• March 11: Mark Hurwitz, assistant professor, UB Department of Political Science, "Ideology and Deference in U.S. Courts of Appeals Decision Making on Administrative Law" Commentators: Barry Boyer and Errol Meidinger, both professors in the UB Law School

• March 25: John Fabian Witt, Columbia Law School, visiting professor, Harvard Law School, "The Inevitability of Aggregate Settlement: An Institutional Account of American Tort Law." Lucinda Finley, UB professor of law and vice provost for faculty affairs, will serve as commentator.

• April 22: William Simon, Columbia Law School, "Toyota Jurisprudence: Legal Theory and Rolling Rule Regimes." Commentators will be announced.

• May 2: Robert Granfield, associate professor, UB Department of Sociology "Institutionalizing Public Service in Law School: Preliminary Results on the Impact of Mandatory Pro Bono Programs." Commentators: Lynn Mather, UB professor of law and political science, and director, Baldy Center, and John Schlegel, professor, UB Law School.

The Baldy Center will present several conferences and workshops this semester on topics ranging from immigration after Sept. 11 to Buddhism and the law to modern histories of crime and punishment.

"Immigration Policy and Practice Post-9/11: Impacts, Historical Precedents and Future Directions" will be held from 1-5 p.m. April 15 in 545 O'Brian. Organized by Michael Lichter, assistant professor, Department of Sociology, and David Gerber, professor, Department of History, the workshop will examine whether immigration policies enacted in the wake of the events of Sept. 11 represent a new direction in the American approach to immigrants and immigration. Participants will discuss the impact of these new policies and practices, particularly on Arabs and Muslims in the U.S., and what these developments mean for the future of targeted groups in America and, more broadly, of immigrants in the U.S.

Details still are being worked out for two late-spring events: a Buddhism and law conference set for June 9-11, and a workshop on "Modern Histories of Crime and Punishment," to be held June 11-12.

The Buddhism conference will follow up a similar event held last summer designed to begin work on creating a new sub-discipline in Buddhism and law. Both conferences are being organized by Rebecca French, professor, UB Law School, and David Engel, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the law school.

Marcus Dubber, professor and director, Buffalo Criminal Law Center, is organizing "Modern Histories of Crime and Punishment" with Lindsay Farmer of the University of Glasgow School of Law.

More details about these events, as well as other Baldy Center activities, may be found at http://www.law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/events.htm.