UB Law School Students Travel to Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Six University at Buffalo law students and their professor will study how national law can help stabilize the chaos in countries struggling from war and civil strife during a four-week educational seminar to Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia.

Isabel Marcus, the UB Law School professor who organized the seminar and who will accompany the students, says she believes the trip is the first of its kind among any of the country's law schools.

Marcus, former chair of UB's Department of Women's Studies who has made numerous professional trips to these war-torn countries working with human rights advocates, says the students -- all in their mid-20s to early-30s -- have impressed her with their interest and zeal for their upcoming experience.

"I believe that this program is an innovation in the school curriculum," says Marcus. "It allows students to study a subject intensively on site after spending a semester learning from books and documents. It also will show them how complex the issues of identity, nationalism and the rule of law are in a post-war zone like the region that was formerly Yugoslavia."

Marcus and the students leave Friday, Jan. 2, but are available for brief interviews during the next few days as they prepare for their trip.

"The students have studied with me in an intensive seminar during the fall 2008 semester," says Marcus. "During their trip they will keep journals; upon their return they will write a research paper.

"In each country, their schedule includes discussions with law professors and students, representatives of different human rights groups, police officers and judges, journalists, religious leaders, cultural figures and a representative from the Ministry of Education in Kosovo where a new curriculum for schools is being developed."

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system, and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.