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-- March 31, 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/
Affirmative Action: The U.S. Supreme Court will
hear oral arguments April 1 on two cases challenging
the constitutionality of the University of Michigan's
use of affirmative action in both law school and undergraduate
admissions. Constitutional scholars professors Sheldon
Nahmod, Harold
Krent and Howard
Eglit are available for comment.
Women in combat: Army specialist Shoshawna Johnson
is among five members of the 507th Maintenance Company
who were captured in Iraq when their supply convoy
made a wrong turn into an ambush. Pfcs. Jessica Lynch
and Lori Piestewa, of the same company, are listed
as missing in action. The incident has reopened public
debate about the role of women in the military during
times of conflict. Professor Michael
I. Spak, a colonel in the U.S. Army reserves,
is available for interviews.
Geneva Convention: The U.S. House of Representatives
last Thursday passed a resolution demanding that Iraq
abide by international laws regarding treatment of
prisoners of war. The 419-0 vote came after images
were released of U.S. POWs being questioned by Iraqi
officials and of Americans killed in the conflict.
However, Amnesty International on Wednesday released
a statement saying, "There are reports giving
rise to concerns that war crimes may have been committed
by both sides in the recent fighting." Professor
Bartram S.
Brown, co-director of Chicago-Kent's International
and Comparative Law Program, is available for interviews
about the Geneva Convention. Professor Brown serves
on the board of directors of Amnesty International,
USA. In 1999 and 2000, he was a public member of the
United States Delegation to the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
Crude oil prices are inching toward $31 a barrel
amid concerns that the war in Iraq will be longer
than first anticipated. Prices have also been driven
higher by continued unrest in Nigeria, which forced
the country to cut back production by more than 30
percent. Professor Howard Simons of IIT's Center for Law and Financial
Markets is available for interviews. Professor Simons
has more than 20 years' experience in financial and
energy markets. He began his career as an economist
with the Amoco Corporation, and then was the managing
consultant for energy with Data Resources Inc. He
has designed econometric trading systems for crude
oil traders and provided fundamental analyses for
financial market traders.
Rebuilding post-war Iraq. Congressman Darrell
Issa last Thursday introduced legislation that would
require the government to award cell phone network
contracts to companies that use code division multiple
access (CDMA) wireless technology. The California
Republican took the action to prevent the Defense
Department from installing a European-based technology
called GSM in post-war Iraq. Issa says, "If we
build a system based on European technology, the Europeans
will receive the royalties, not U.S. patent holders.
From an investment standpoint, that's a bad decision."
Elizier
Geisler, professor and associate dean for
research at Stuart Graduate School of Business, says
firms that specialize in telecommunications are among
those that would reap benefits at the end of a war
with Iraq. Professor Geisler is available for interviews.
Marquette, Kansas, Syracuse and Texas have advanced
to the NCAA's "Final Four." Online bettors
looking to wager on the NCAA tournament may lose more
than money. "In Illinois and many other states
such wagers are against the law. But online gamblers
can also leave themselves open to identity fraud and
credit card theft by unscrupulous sites," says
Dean Harold J.
Krent. He is available to talk about the dangers
of online gambling.
Discussions of A
Raisin in the Sun will
be held throughout Chicago April 6-12. Lorraine
Hansberry's 1959 drama was selected as the spring
2003 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.
"Chicago Sports! You Shoulda Been There,"
a new exhibit that celebrates Chicago sports, opened
Saturday at the Chicago Historical Society. The Bulls'
six NBA championship trophies, the Bears' Super Bowl
and NFL Championship trophies, Walter Payton's Super
Bowl ring, baseball jerseys that belonged to Ron Santo
and Ernie Banks, Red Grange's football jersey, Joe
Jackson's baseball bat, a ticket to Game Four of the
1919 World Series, a pair of Joe Louis' boxing gloves,
and home plate from old Comiskey Park are among the
items on display. Adjunct professor and sports attorney
Eldon L. Ham is author of The
100 Greatest Sports Blunders of All Time and
The Playmasters: From Sellouts
to Lockouts, an Unauthorized History of the NBA.
Professor Ham can provide a number of Chicago sports
anecdotes.
Taxpayers who have disputes with the IRS may qualify
for assistance through Chicago-Kent's Low-Income
Taxpayer Clinic. Those who meet certain income criteria
may receive free assistance with their tax disputes,
including collection matters, audits, appeals and
litigation before the Internal Revenue Service, United
States Tax Court, and United States District Court.
Students work under the supervision of Professor Jonathan
Decatorsmith. He is available for media interviews
about the program, but is unable to answer media queries
for current tax filing stories.
American law students are invited to apply for Chicago-Kent's
new summer abroad program in Mexico City with
Tec de Monterrey, one of Mexico's leading private
universities. The program, which runs from June 16
through July 23, 2003, will give U.S. law students
an opportunity to study Mexican law and U.S./Mexican
legal issues. May 1 is the deadline for applications,
which are available on the program's Web site at http://www.kentlaw.edu/glpi/mexico.
Professor Howard
Eglit is available for media interviews about
the program.
On the Downtown Campus:
March 31: Madrid Protocol Preview. The inaugural
program of the Chicago Intellectual Property Alliance
will examine the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's
new proposed rules for implementing the Madrid Protocol.
The program will explore how the Madrid Protocol will
substantially change trademark management and trademark
practice in the United States. Presenters from the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office include Anne H. Chasser,
Commissioner for Trademarks; Robert M. Anderson, Deputy
Commissioner for Trademark Operations; and Lynne G.
Beresford, Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Examination
Policy. The program will be held at Chicago-Kent from
noon to 6 p.m. For more information, call (312)906-5090
or visit www.chicagoipalliance.com
on the Web.
April 1: "A New Kind of War: The Media's Role
in the War in Iraq." Journalist Joel Weisman
will analyze media coverage of the Iraqi conflict.
Since 1977, Weisman has hosted WTTW-TV's award-winning
public affairs program "Chicago Tonight: The
Week in Review." A 1969 graduate of Chicago-Kent,
Weisman is also an attorney, specializing in media
and entertainment law. He represents journalists at
stations and publications around the country and has
also lectured extensively on issues of law and journalism.
This program, which is free and open to the public,
begins at 1:50 p.m. and will be held in the Gov. Richard
B. Ogilvie Auditorium. It is co-sponsored by Chicago-Kent's
Faculty Student Life Committee and the Student Bar
Association. For more information, call (312) 906-5149.
April 3: "Online/Distance Education, with an
E.M. Twist" is the topic of a presentation
by Professor Nasrin
Khalili of the Stuart Graduate School of Business
environmental management program. She will discuss
an on-line learning course in environmental management
she has designed and implemented. She will explore
what was learned from the experience and how it can
be applied to future courses. The program will begin
at noon at Stuart Graduate School of Business. For
more information, contact John Blanchet-Ruth at (312)
906-6518 or at jb-r@stuart.iit.edu.
April 8: 25th annual Kenneth M. Piper Lecture. Maria
O'Brien Hylton, professor of law at Boston University
School of Law, will address the topic, "The Case
for Sweeping Reforms of Employee Benefits: What We
Should Demand of Employees, Union and Government."
Other presenters include James D. English,
secretary-treasurer, United Steelworkers of America,
AFL-CIO, CLC; David R. Levin, partner, Wiley
Rein & Fielding; and Mary Ellen Signorille,
senior staff attorney, AARP Foundation. The lecture
series presents major programs in labor law in memory
of Kenneth M. Piper, a distinguished executive with
Motorola, Inc. and Bausch & Lomb, Inc. The program
is free and open to the public. For more information,
call (312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/piper/
on the Web.
April 9: "Best Employers, Best Results: Global
Survey Findings," is the topic of a presentation
by Arturo Fisher. Mr. Fisher, a principal and
lead consultant with Hewitt Associates, specializes
in human resources strategy for key multinational
corporations. The program, which is part of Stuart
Graduate School of Business' Leadership Forum, will
begin at 5 p.m. For more information, call (312) 906-6573.
May 1-2: 22nd annual Federal Tax Institute. Larry
R. Langdon, commissioner of the Internal Revenue
Service's Large and Mid-Size Business Division, will
be the Tax Institute's luncheon speaker on May 1.
The two-day program will review recent developments
in case law and rulings in the federal income, estate,
gift and employee benefits tax areas; partnerships;
and international tax issues. One timely session will
explore "Executive Compensation in a Post-Enron,
Tyco, WorldCom, and Sarbanes-Oxley World." For
more information, call (312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/fedtax/
on the Web.
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