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–December 11, 2006–Chicago-Kent College of Law and Stuart School of Business have experts available to discuss current issues. To reach any of our experts, call Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, at (312) 906-5251. Press releases and earlier advisories are available on our Web site: www.kentlaw.edu/news/advisory.
“Human rights and the rule of law are vital to global security,” says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who delivered his farewell address Monday at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library. Annan will leave office December 31, 2006, after serving two five-year terms as the UN’s seventh Secretary-General. Throughout his time at the UN, Annan has often been at odds with the Bush administration over the war on terror, genocide in Darfur and other issues. Professor Bartram S. Brown, an expert on human rights and on international law, frequently has served as a consultant to the United Nations. He is available for interviews about the UN and Kofi Annan’s legacy.
In 2005, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received more than 406,000 patent applications from businesses, research institutions and individuals seeking to prevent others from “making, using or selling” their inventions in the United States. What is a patent? What is the process for obtaining one? What cannot be patented? Professor Timothy R. Holbrook is available for interviews.
Dreaming of a green Christmas? Professor John Paul Kusz, associate director of Stuart School of Business’ Center for Sustainable Enterprise, has a number of environmentally friendly gift suggestions to share.
Nine decorated Christmas trees have been removed from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after a rabbi threatened to file a lawsuit unless a menorah was added to the airport’s holiday decorations. While the displays of menorahs, nativity scenes and other religious symbols on government property have often been the subject of lawsuits, displays of holiday trees, Santas and so-called secular symbols have not. Professor Sheldon H. Nahmod, a constitutional scholar, can discuss the controversy in Washington state, the separation of church and state, and freedom of expression.
How much is that Perma Puppy in the window? Best selling author Michael Crichton’s latest techno-thriller, Next, details a genetics industry he calls “fast, furious and out of control.” Blondes are threatened with extinction.
Tissue donors and their families are pursued by corporate bounty hunters intent upon harvesting their genes. But Chicago-Kent professor Lori B. Andrews, a bioethicist and director of IIT’s Institute for Law, Science and Technology, says recent actions by the U.S. Patent Office and the U.S. Supreme Court could move us closer to the horrors imagined in Crichton’s fictional work and could undermine the quality of health care and scientific exploration.
Chicago-Kent students Joel Roberson and Susan Clark will spend their winter break working as volunteers in the Gulf Coast region providing assistance to residents impacted by Hurricane Katrina. It will be the second time Susan and Joel have been to the area. During their 2006 spring break, they worked on housing issues at the Mississippi Center for Justice. Between January 7 and 13, 2007, they will work in New Orleans as part of the Student Hurricane Network, a coalition of students from Illinois law schools formed “to provide one-on-one advocacy support and community rebuilding services” to displaced residents. The students are available for interviews now and after they return from the Gulf Coast in January.
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