For more information,
please contact:
Gwen Osborne,
director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS AND ASSIGNMENT,
LEGAL, PLANNING, BUSINESS, AND DAYBOOK EDITORS
CHICAGO-- February 24, 2003--Chicago-Kent
College of Law, the Stuart Graduate School of Business
and the Center for Law and Financial Markets have
experts available to discuss current issues. To reach
any of our experts, call Gwen
Osborne, director of public affairs, at (312)
906-5251. Copies of press releases and earlier advisories
are available on our Web site: http://www.kentlaw.edu/news/
Iraq is showing signs of "substantive cooperation,"
according to chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix,
whose next report to the U.N. Security Council is
due March 7. Meanwhile, the Bush administration continues
preparing for possible war with Iraq. The U.S., Great
Britain and Spain have drafted a resolution calling
for military strikes against Iraq. Foreign policy
experts and Chicago-Kent professors Bartram
S. Brown and Henry
H. Perritt, Jr., are available for comment.
What impact could a war have on the U.S. economy?
Professor Howard Simons of IIT's Center for Law and Financial
Markets is available for interviews.
A ban on assassination attempts by U.S. intelligence
agencies has been in place since former President
Gerald Ford signed Executive Order 11905 in February
1976. The order was issued in response to criticism
of U.S. covert operations during the 1960s and 70s.
Chicago-Kent Dean Harold
J. Krent is an expert on presidential powers.
He is available for interviews about Executive Order
11905.
Governor Rod Blagojevich signed into law the Illinois
Military Family Relief Fund Act earlier this month
to help National Guard and reservist families cover
basic needs. There is often a disparity between military
and civilian pay. The fund, which accepts private
donations, was established to help households whose
incomes are decreased when a family member is called
up for active duty. Professor Michael
I. Spak, a colonel in the U.S. Army reserves,
is a co-author of Servicemember's
Legal Guide: Everything You and Your Family Need to
Know About the Law. He can discuss legal matters
of concern to members of the armed services, including
the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Soldiers'
and Sailors' Relief Act of 1940.
The City of Chicago was added as a defendant in
a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families
of two people killed February 17 at E-2, a popular
local nightclub. Twenty-one people died and scores
of others were injured when security personnel released
pepper spray to break up a fight and patrons stampeded
for the exit. Chicago-Kent professor Mark
Rosen, who teaches state and local government
law, is available for interviews.
Lawmakers have introduced a measure that would
toughen the state's sexual assault law by expanding
the definition of rape. Under the proposal, Senate
Bill 406, a person who consents to sexual intercourse
can withdraw that consent at any time. The proposal,
which is sponsored by State Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-53),
is gender neutral. It is prompted by a recent California
Supreme Court decision which considered the issue
of consent. Current Illinois law does not include
provisions for cases in which consent has been granted
and then withdrawn during the act. Chicago-Kent professor
Katharine Baker
is available for interviews.
You Don't Know Auctions!: Each year, Internet
auction fraud costs American consumers approximately
$5 million. The most prevalent complaints involve
identity theft, misrepresented merchandise or undelivered
goods. How can consumers protect themselves? Honors
scholars of Chicago-Kent College of Law have collaborated
with the City of Chicago Department of Consumer Services
and AT&T to create "You Don't Know Auctions!",
an interactive Internet game to educate the public
about online auctions and to caution them about the
dangers of auction fraud. The Web address for the
game is www.youdontknowauctions.com.
Dean Harold J.
Krent, who served as faculty supervisor for
the project, and honors scholars are available for
interviews.
President Bush has proposed eliminating the tax
rate on investors' dividend earnings. Professor
Keith Black of IIT's Center for Law and
Financial Markets says, "While this move will
cause a large decline in federal revenue, and will
likely be opposed by Democrats as a ‘gift to
the rich,' it may cause a change in many companies'
dividend policies." Professor Black says that
in the U.S. corporate income is taxed twice -- once
at the corporate level and again when investors pay
taxes on dividend distributions. While many investors
are asking large corporations for increased dividend
payments, a weak profit picture may preclude companies
from safely offering higher dividends to their stockholders.
What does this bode for the valuation levels of the
U.S. markets? Professor Black is available for interviews.
Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 drama A
Raisin in the Sun, has been selected as the
next book in the city's "One Book, One Chicago"
program. There will be citywide readings, video presentations
and discussions of the book and the issue of race
and housing in Chicago. Events in Hansberry's award-winning
play were inspired by her father's legal challenge
to restrictive covenants in Chicago real estate sales
that prevented African-Americans from living in certain
neighborhoods. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case,
Hansberry v. Lee, in 1940. Chicago-Kent professor
A. Dan Tarlock
teaches courses in property law. Professor Tarlock
is available to talk about the Supreme Court decision
and about racially restrictive covenants in Chicago
prior to 1948.
Robert S. Abbott graduated in 1898 from what is
now Chicago-Kent College of Law. Abbott was best
known for founding the Chicago Defender in 1905 and
expanding it into the country's most influential African-American
publication. He is credited with focusing the nation's
attention on lynching, Jim Crow laws and racial discrimination.
The Defender, which was outlawed in several states,
encouraged African Americans to leave the rural South
for the urban North in the early 20th century, giving
rise to what was called "The Great Migration."
Chicago-Kent has rededicated a scholarship to honor
Abbott. The scholarship provides funding for law students
from underrepresented minority groups. Richard
Van Hees, assistant dean for institutional advancement,
is available for interviews about the program.
On the Downtown Campus:
March 5: "NAFTA in a WTO World: The Future
of Regional Agreements in a Multilateral Trading Environment"
is the topic of a program cosponsored by the Global
Law and Policy Initiative at Chicago-Kent College
of Law, the Canadian Consulate, the Mexican Consulate,
the United Nations Association, the Better World Campaign,
Global Chicago and the Chicago Council on Foreign
Relations. The event is free and open to the public,
but reservations are required. To RSVP or for more
information, please contact Nina Heard at (312) 906-5134
or nheard@kentlaw.edu.
March 6: "Has There Been a Paradigm Shift in
Science?" is the topic of a presentation
by Stuart Graduate School of Business professor Michael
Kelly. Stephen Wolfram, author of A
New King of Science, maintains that a new approach,
based on simple computer programs rather than mathematical
formulae, is required to understand the complexity
observed in nature. He proposes to rebuild science
from the ground up using programming as the basis
of all scientific endeavor. Professor Kelly will discuss
Wolfram's ideas and illustrate them using Wolfram's
own programs and Mathematica software in a live computer
demonstration. For more information about the presentation,
contact John Blanchet-Ruth, (312) 906-6518 or jb-r@stuart.iit.edu.
March 11: "Hospitality Begins with a Quality
Union Contract: The Union's Role in Reviving the Industry"
is the topic of the fifth annual Distinguished Labor
Leader Lecture delivered by John W. Wilhelm,
president, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees
International Union, AFL-CIO. The program, which is
free and open to the public, will be held in the Gov.
Richard B. Ogilvie Auditorium. The Distinguished Labor
Leader Lecture series presents addresses by leading
labor leaders on critical issues in the workplace.
The program is co-sponsored by the Chicago Federation
of Labor, AFL-CIO and Chicago-Kent's Institute for
Law and the Workplace. For more information, call
(312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle
on the Web.
March 12: Faisal Hoque, founder and CEO of Enamics
Inc., will discuss business technology management
at a Business Leadership Forum sponsored by Stuart
Graduate School of Business. Mr. Hoque is a proponent
of aligning technology to business strategy. He argues
that until technology is focused on achieving specific
business goals, it will continue to provide inconsistent
benefits in corporate research and development investments.
Mr. Hoque is author of The
Alignment Effect and e-Enterprise.
The program will begin at 4:30 p.m. in room 510. For
more information about the presentation, contact John
Blanchet-Ruth, (312) 906-6518 or jb-r@stuart.iit.edu.
March 27-28: 20th annual conference on Section 1983
Civil Rights Litigation. This two-day seminar
provides a comprehensive update, presented by leading
practitioners and legal scholars, on liability arising
out of Section 1983 and other civil rights statutes.
Police misconduct litigation, sexual harassment, municipal
liability, land use regulation, the Americans with
Disabilities Act, and recent cases before the U.S.
Supreme Court are among the topics to be explored.
For more information, call (312) 906-5090 or visit
www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/
on the Web.
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