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Workshop to examine Buddhism and law
"Locating Law in Buddhist Cultures," a workshop devoted to beginning a collaborative discussion on developing law and Buddhism as a field of study, will be held tomorrow and Saturday in 545 O'Brian Hall, North Campus.
The workshop—the first organized by the Law and Buddhism Project in the UB Law School—will be presented under the auspices of the Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy at the Law School. It is being organized by Rebecca Redwood French, a professor in the Law School, and David M. Engel, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the Law School.
The first day of the conference will be open to the public; the second day will be closed so that participants can plan for the next conference.
While there is a long history of research, writing and conferences on the legal traditions of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism, the Buddhist legal tradition has no such legacy, conference organizers say. In North America and Europe, it is not considered part of comparative law, there is no disciplinary field of Buddhist law and there are no academic departments or endowed chairs, and few books published. Moreover, there has been only one previous small conference.
As a field of study, the joining of law and Buddhism presents several interesting problems, organizers note. Buddhism historically has been, for the most part, open-textured and adaptive, as opposed to being mutually exclusive in relation to other religious systems. In addition, Buddhism has blended with animism, local traditions and national systems, and its effects are more subtle and less apparent than those of Islam or Christianity, for example.
Therefore, organizers explain, the investigation of Buddhist legal cultures across the Asian continent is an endeavor that will require a variety of disciplinary tools and investigative methodologies, including the use of ethnographic materials, varying research questions—depending on the region—and the consideration of multiple possible models.
"Locating Law in Buddhist Cultures" will bring together a small number of scholars in an variety of disciplines—including law, Buddhist studies, Asian studies, anthropology, history, sociology and religion—to begin the discussion.
Among the questions to be addressed are:
What Buddhist texts have influenced secular legal systems the most?
Was there an initial historic or mythical model of a Buddhist-influenced legal system, such as the reign of King Pasenadi or Asoka, that set a standard?
Are basic concepts in Buddhism, such as time, karma, causality, conflict, non-duality and cosmology, a useful way to focus such an inquiry?
Is the influence of Buddhism transferred, if at all, through monks and monastic communities?
Which societies and communities have been influenced by Buddhism at particular points in history?
How have Buddhism and law interacted in local settings with indigenous systems of practice, belief and "customary law?"
For further information about the workshop, contact law-buddhism@buffalo.edu.
UB to offer career workshops
Career Perspectives, a series of free evening seminars designed to offer information for college and high school students exploring career options after graduation, as well as persons looking to make a career change, will be offered during June at UB.
The series is part of "UB This Summer," an initiative of workshops, lectures, summer camps and programs designed to showcase UB faculty and facilities to the wider community.
Among the career fields to be addressed during Career Perspectives will be architecture and planning, engineering, education, law, nursing and public health. Each seminar will feature a keynote address by a prominent individual in the field. The series was extremely popular when it first was offered last summer, with more than 1,000 persons participating.
The schedule:
Architecture and Planning: June 10, 5:30-9 p.m., Hayes Hall, South Campus. Keynote address will be presented by Mark Mendell, president, Cannon Design. Free parking will be available in the Townsend, Parker and Diefendorf lots. Check-in will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Hayes Hall Lobby. To register or for more information, call 829-3485, ext. 120, during normal business hours.
Engineering: June 22, 5:30-9 p.m., Student Union, North Campus. Keynote speaker will be Steven L. Lerner, Praxair, Inc. Free parking will be available in the Furnas and Jarvis A & B lots. Parking permits/hangtags are not required after 3 p.m. Check-in will begin at 5:15 p.m. in the Student Union Lobby. To register or for more information, call 645-2771, ext. 1227, during normal business hours.
Education: June 3, 5-9 p.m., Center for Tomorrow, North Campus. Keynote speaker will be Vincent Coppola, executive director, Western New York Educational Service Council, Graduate School of Education. Free parking will be available in the Center for Tomorrow Lot off Flint Road. Parking permits/hangtags are not required. Check-in will begin at 5 p.m. in the Center for Tomorrow Lobby. For further information or to register, call 645-2110 during normal business hours.
Law: June 16, 5-9 p.m., O'Brian Hall, North Campus. Keynote speaker will be the Hon. Michael A. Battle, J.D. '81, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York. Free parking will be available in the Jacobs A, B & C, Baird A & B and Hochstetter B lots. Parking permits/hangtags are not required after 3 p.m. Check-in will begin at 5 p.m. in the O'Brian Hall Lobby. For further information or to register, call 645-2907 during normal business hours.
Nursing: June 8, 5-9 p.m., Center for Tomorrow, North Campus. Keynote speaker will be Mecca S. Cranley, dean, School of Nursing. Free parking will be available in the Center for Tomorrow Lot off Flint Road. Parking permits/hangtags are not required. Check-in will begin at 5 p.m. in the Center for Tomorrow Lobby. For further information or to register, call 829-3314 during normal business hours.
Public Health and Health Professions: June 15, 5-8:30 p.m., Center for Tomorrow, North Campus. This seminar will cover careers in Public Health and Health Professions, including athletic training, biostatistics, epidemiology, exercise science, nutrition, occupational therapy, physical therapy, public health and rehabilitation science. Keynote speaker will be Maurizio Trevisan, professor of social and preventive medicine and interim dean, School of Public Health and Health Professions. Free parking will be available in the Center for Tomorrow Lot off Flint Road. Parking permits/hangtags are not required. Check-in will begin at 5 p.m. in the Center for Tomorrow Lobby. For further information or to register, call 829-3434 during normal business hours.
Law School to present elder law series
An evening lecture series offering presentations on a variety of topics of interest to senior citizens, including the new Medicare prescription drug law, paying for long-term care and planning for death or disability, will be held in June on the North Campus.
The Elder Law Evening Lecture Series, sponsored by the Law School, is part of "UB This Summer," an initiative of workshops, lectures, summer camps and programs designed to showcase UB faculty and facilities to the wider community.
The elder law lectures will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in 102 O'Brian Hall. Free parking will be provided in the Jacobs Lots A, B and C.
The cost of each lecture is $15; a series pass, good for five lectures, may be purchased for $60. Anyone with inquiries regarding registration or logistical questions should call 645-6404. All other inquiries about the lectures should be directed to the Law School at 645-2052.
The schedule:
June 8: "The New Medicare Prescription Drug Law: What Did Congress Do Now?" The speaker will be Tony Szczygiel, professor, Law School. Recent Medicare legislation created a prescription-drug benefit that will be marketed next year. Meanwhile, a prescription-drug card has just been made available. Find out what the law did and didn't do to cover the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. Is importing drugs the solution? Is it legal?
June 10: "Paying For Long-Term Care: How To Get and Pay For The Care You Need." Speakers will be Bruce Reinoso, Magavern, Magavern and Grimm LLP, and Tony Szczygiel, Law School. Long-term care insurance, Medicare and Medicaid all play a part in providing access to such long-term care as nursing-home and home-health care. Find out the legal rules on what you can and can't do with these and other less-well-known programs.
June 15: "Decision Making: Who Decides if I Can't?" Speakers will be Liz Clark, Hodgson Russ LLP, and Helen Zaffram, Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled or Disadvantaged. Financial, health-related and lifestyle decisions continue to be important, even after you lose the capacity to make them yourself. What are the recognized mechanisms for selecting others to make these decisions for you? How much can you guide their future choices?
June 17: "Medicare Managed Care and Other Important Medicare Changes." Speakers will be Bill Berry, Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled or Disadvantaged, and Tony Szczygiel, Law School. You will be surprised at the many changes Congress made to the Medicare program in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, Pub. L. 108-173, beyond the prescription-drug benefit. Several of these may prove to be more important than the drug coverage. The role of managed care, payment changes and covered services have been fundamentally changed. Increasingly, you will be asked to make important decisions regarding your future health-care coverage. Are you ready?
June 22: "Planning for Death or Disability: Trusts and Beyond" Speakers will be David Pfalzgraf, Renda, Pares & Pfalzgraf, and Gayle Eagan, Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel, LLP. Estate planning focuses on passing assets at the time of death. A variety of factors, including changes in the law, have made financial planning for life very important. For many individuals, this is even more important than estate planning. What are the challenges that you need to plan for, and what options do you have?t
Baldy Center to present workshop on police power
A workshop that will bring together an interdisciplinary group of international scholars to explore various aspects of the police power as a modern technology of governance will be presented June 12-13 by the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy at the Law School.
The workshop, "The New Police Science: Police Powers in Comparative Perspective," will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 12 and 9 a.m. to noon on June 13 in 545 O'Brian Hall, North Campus. It is being organized by Markus Dubber, professor of law and director of the Buffalo Criminal Law Center, and Mariana Valverde of the Centre of Criminology at the University of Toronto.
The police power—the power to maintain "peace, order and good government"—pervades all aspects and levels of modern government, conference organizers say. It is so essential to the very idea of government that it underlies such diverse technologies of government as liquor licensing and the criminal law, and is claimed by city governments, as well as county, state and national governments. Moreover, it appears in various forms—and under various names—in the practices and theories of governance of various modern legal systems, organizers add.
Despite its widely acknowledged persistence as a phenomenon, the police power today has all but disappeared as a subject, organizers note, adding that the goal of the workshop is to reclaim the police power as an important subject for scholarly inquiry.
For further information or to register for the workshop, contact Joseph Schneider, assistant director of the Buffalo Criminal Law Center, at jes2@buffalo.edu or 645-3407. Although there is no fee to attend the workshop, advance registration is required. Registration includes a copy of the workshop papers and other materials, and all breaks and lunch on June 12.