Contacts:

Gloria Gottschalk, New School University
212-229-5667, ext. 239
[email protected]

Lauren Erlichman, New School University
212-229-5667, ext. 215
[email protected]

 

"INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE, WAR CRIMES AND TERRORISM: THE U.S. RECORD"
TOPIC OF MAJOR CONFERENCE AT
NEW SCHOOL UNIVERSITY ON APRIL 25-27, 2002

BOB KERREY, FORMER U.S. SENATOR AND PRESIDENT OF NEW SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY, TO GIVE KEYNOTE ADDRESS ON APRIL 25

Speakers include Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Former U.S. Representative
to the United Nations; Justice Richard Goldstone, Chief Prosecutor
for International Criminal Court for Rwanda; and many other distinguished speakers

For most New Yorkers, the question of international justice has never been so close to home as in the months since the September 11th terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But for faculty and students at the New School University in Greenwich Village, whose Graduate Faculty was founded by scholars rescued from the atrocities of Nazi Germany, issues of international justice and human rights have always been in sharp focus.

"International Justice, War Crimes and Terrorism: The U.S. Record", an upcoming three-day conference at the New School University, places the September 11th terror attacks in a global and historical context. Speakers will address events in Vietnam, Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo, New York, and other locations, discussing how the national and international community, including the United States, responded to terrorism in their own and other countries, through legal, political, military, and other means.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, has been organized by Professor Arien Mack, Editor of Social Research journal, and others at the Graduate Faculty. New School University President and former U.S. Senator, Bob Kerrey, will deliver the keynote address on April 25 at 6:00 PM. The conference opens on Thursday morning, April 25 with remarks by Dr. Mack and Kenneth Prewitt, Dean of the Graduate Faculty and former Director of the U.S. Census Bureau. It will run through Saturday morning, April 27 and will take place at the New School University's Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, New York, NY.

For further information or reservations, call 212-229-2488 or visit the conference web site at www.socres.org.

"We are defining terrorism as acts of violence against innocent civilians, which may or may not be part of an officially declared war," said Dr. Mack, Alfred J. and Monette C. Marrow Professor of Psychology at the Graduate Faculty and director of the Social Research conference series.

"The conference presents a wide-angle view on how war crimes, terrorism and other atrocities are and ought to be dealt with, and reinforces the University's commitment to advancing the possibility of global justice and the protection of human rights."

"The events of September 11th have made it painfully clear that we must continue building a global system of justice in which war crimes and acts of terrorism will be prosecuted by a variety of international and national jurisdictions," Dr. Mack said. "The United States has already made important contributions to this effort, beginning with the Nuremberg Trials and the drafting of the Geneva Conventions. Now more than ever it is essential that we continue our involvement in shaping international agreements on international justice and human rights."

In addition to Senator Kerrey, the three-day conference will bring together leading scholars and policy makers, including Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, former United States Representative to the United Nations, Clinton Administration; Philip Gourevitch, staff writer at the New Yorker; Justice Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Court for Rwanda; Theodor Meron, U.S. Justice at the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague; Stephen Holmes, Professor of Law, New York University; Michael Ignatieff, Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government; Michael Walzer, author of Just and Unjust Wars, and many other notable speakers.

Conference panels will address topics including "Just and Unjust War," "The Training of the Military: National Law and Teaching the Geneva Conventions," "International Law and Justice," "Punishment of War Crimes and Atrocities: International and National Tribunals," "Defining and Responding to Terrorism," and "Where Do We Go From Here? New and Emerging Issues in the Prosecution of War Crimes and Acts of Terrorism." Each panel will conclude with a question-and-answer session.

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The Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science awards M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology, economics, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. In addition, interdisciplinary M.A. programs are offered in historical studies and liberal arts. The Graduate Faculty has an enrollment of about 1,050 students. International students comprise nearly 30% of the student body and come from about 70 different countries. For further information on the Graduate Faculty, call (212) 229-5777 or go to the Web site a: www.newschool.edu

New School University, with 7,000 matriculated students and 25,000 continuing education students, is comprised of seven academic divisions: The New School, the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College, Mannes College of Music, the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, and the Actors Studio Drama School, as well as the University's B.F.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music. New School Online University offers one of the largest selections of online courses in the nation. For further information about admission to New School University, call 877-528-3321 or go to the Web site at www.newschool.edu