Calendar of Events - SPRING '08

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Dartmouth's 2nd Annual

Law Day Celebration

Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10

Immigration in Contemporary American Society and its Legal Implications

Friday, May 9th

1 Rockefeller Hall
3:00pm – Student panel on “Sanctuary Cities”
In recent years, several US “sanctuary cities” have chosen not to process illegal immigrants. Do these cities have the right to protect illegal immigrants from federal prosecution?

4:00pm – “Immigration in 2008”
Panelists include:
Daniel Berger, Immigration Attorney
Patricia Sheppard, Retired Immigration Court Judge
Congressman Michael Capuano '73, 8th District, MA
Professor Carol Bohmer, Government Department, Dartmouth (Moderator)

Saturday, May 10th

12:00pm – Lunch, Hinman Forum, Rockefeller Hall

1:00pm – Legal Career Panel, 1 Rockefeller Hall
Interested in becoming a law professor, attorney, judge or Supreme Court Justice? Learn about many possible legal careers from Dartmouth alumni. All students welcome!

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2008 Centennial Celebration and 25th Anniversary

• The Bernard D. Nossiter Lecture 4/3/08
• The Roger S. Aaron '64 Lecture 4/10/08
• Congress to Campus Series 4/14/08
• A Nelson A. Rockefeller Centennial Series and Class of 1930 Fellow Lecture 4/24/08
• A Nelson A. Rockefeller Centennial Series Lecture 4/25/08
• The William H. Timbers '37 Lecture 5/1/08
• The Portman Lecture in the Spirit of Entrepreneurship 5/7/08
• Rockefeller Center and the League of Women Voters of the Upper Valley Lecture 5/8/08
• A Nelson A. Rockefeller Centennial Series Panel 5/19/08
• A Nelson A. Rockefeller Centennial Series Conference 6/19-21/08

THE BERNARD D. NOSSITER '47 LECTURE

"Reflections on Reporting the Middle East"

Simon Wilson, Former Middle East Bureau Chief for BBC News, Harvard Nieman Fellow 2008

4:30 PM – 3 Rockefeller Hall

Biographical Information

Simon Wilson has worked for BBC News for almost twenty years, most recently as Middle East Bureau Chief based in Jerusalem. Between 2001 and 2007 he spent much of his time covering the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the wars in Iraq and Lebanon and a number of other developing stories around the region. In 2007, he led the BBC's response to the four month kidnapping of its Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston. Mr Wilson is a graduate of Cambridge University in the UK where he studied French and German. His previous postings include Bonn and Brussels, where he was the BBC's Europe Producer between 1997 and 2001. He is married with three young daughters and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he is a Nieman fellow at Harvard University.

The Nossiter Lecture Description

Established by the Nossiter family in 1994 in honor of Bernard D. Nossiter '47 and his contributions to journalism, the fund supports lectures by Harvard University's Nieman Fellows to be held at Dartmouth College under the auspices of the Rockefeller Center. Bernard D. Nossiter was a reporter for The Washington Post for 24 years. From 1979 to 1983 he was chief of the United Nations Bureau of The New York Times. Later he wrote two books, “The Global Struggle for More” (Harper & Row, 1987) and “Fat Years and Lean: The American Economy Since Roosevelt” (HarperCollins 1990). Previous books included “The Mythmakers: An Essay on Power and Wealth” (Houghton Mifflin 1964), “Soft State: A Newspaperman's Chronicle of India,” and “Britain: A Future That Works” (Houghton Mifflin 1978).

Nossiter was born in Manhattan. He received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth in 1947 and a master's degree in economics from Harvard in 1948. His marriage to Jacqueline Robinson in 1950 ended in separation in 1988. Besides his wife, who lives in San Francisco, he is survived by his mother, Rose Jacobson of Manhattan, a brother, Paul of Wellfleet, MA, and four sons, Daniel of Washington, Joshua of San Francisco, Adam of New Orleans, and Jonathan of Manhattan

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THE ROGER S. AARON '64 LECTURE

"Thaddeus Stevens as a Good White Man"

Randall L. Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard University

4:30 PM – 3 Rockefeller Hall

The lecture will develop the idea of the “Good White Person” (GWP) through an analysis of Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868). Stevens (who attended Dartmouth College) was an outstanding attorney in Pennsylvania in the ante-bellum period and a leading radical Republican during Reconstruction. Kennedy dubs him a “Good White Person” because of his anti-racist politics.

Biographical Information

Randall Kennedy was born in Columbia, S.C. in 1954. He graduated from St. Albans School, Princeton University, and Yale Law School. He served as a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United States, is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia, holds an honorary degree from Haverford College, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Association. He has written four books, including Race, Crime and the Law for which he was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize.

The Aaron Lecture Description

This endowment fund, established in honor of Roger S. Aaron, Esq. 1964, was created in October 1996 from gifts from the Dartmouth Lawyers Association. The Aaron fund falls under the larger Daniel Webster Fund umbrella.

The Daniel Webster Fund umbrella was created at Dartmouth College to honor distinguished alumnus Daniel Webster, Class of 1801, a famous lawyer, orator, and statesman. The Daniel Webster Fund is intended to serve as an umbrella fund under which individual funds may be established to support the study of the role of law and justice, ethics and public policy in the lives of individuals and society as part of the liberal arts curriculum of Dartmouth College, and as an outgrowth of the College's Law and Liberal Arts lecture series sponsored by the Dartmouth Lawyers Association.

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CONGRESS TO CAMPUS SERIES

The Congress to Campus program sends bipartisan pairs of former Members of Congress - one Democrat and one Republican - to visit college, university and community college campuses around the country. Over the course of two days, the former Members conduct classes, hold forums, meet informally with students and faculty, and hold interviews with local press and media. The program provides a distinctive, powerful and personal means to educate the next generation about American government, politics and public affairs. The former Members provide students with insights into the realities of American democracy through sharing their real-life experiences as candidates and office holders. The former Members also deliver an important message about bipartisan cooperation.

"Electing One of Their Own: A Senator in the White House"

Beverly Byron (D-MD) & William “Mickey” Edwards (R-OK)

4:30 PM – 3 Rockefeller Hall

Co-sponsored with the Government Department, Dartmouth College

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A Nelson A. Rockefeller Centennial Series Lecture

THE CLASS OF 1930 FELLOW LECTURE

"Nelson Rockefeller:Still Influencing People, Power, and Politics"

Governor Christine Todd Whitman (R-NJ), President, Whitman Strategy Group

4:00 PM – Moore Theater, Hopkins Center

Biographical Information

Gov. Whitman was elected Governor of New Jersey (which has off-year elections) in 1993 and served in the post until 2000 when President George W. Bush asked her to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The youngest of four children in an affluent family active in Republican politics, she earned a B.A. in government from Wheaton College in 1968. She then worked as an outreach worker for the Republican National Committee, a staff member of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, an English-as-a-second-language teacher in New York City. In 1982 Whitman was elected to the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders (county commissioners), where she served until 1988 when Gov. Thomas Kean appointed her to the state Board of Public Utilities. In 1990 Whitman resigned to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Bill Bradley. Although she had little name recognition, Whitman surprised pundits by getting 49 percent of the vote, narrowly losing to Bradley. In 1993 she defeated incumbent Gov. James Florio. Whitman has cut taxes, promoted business, streamlined government, and promoted tough anti-crime legislation. Her support of abortion and gay rights has made her unpopular with much of the Republican party. Environmentalists say she has a mixed record. She supported a measure allowing $1 billion to preserve some one million acres of land from development and imposed environmental reviews on new development's water and sewer facilities. Whitman also tried to promote business, reducing fines for polluters, streamlining the building permit process, and reducing staff at the state environmental protection office. She resigned her EPA post in May 2003. She is married to John Whitman, a financial consultant whose grandfather was governor of New York. They have two children and own two farms.

Class of 1930 Fellow Lecture Description

THE CLASS OF 1930 FELLOWSHIP, a program of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College, was established by the members of the class to continue the tradition begun by President Ernest Martin Hopkins of bringing distinguished men and women to campus for brief visits.

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A Nelson A. Rockefeller Centennial Series Lecture

"The Surprising Nelson Rockefeller"

Richard Norton Smith, American Historian

4:30 PM – Loew Auditorium at Hood Museum of Art

Biographical Information

Richard Norton Smith is a nationally recognized authority on the American presidency and a familiar face to viewers of C-SPAN, as well as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, where he appears regularly as part of the show's round table of historians. Smith graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1975 with a degree in government and following graduation worked as a White House intern and a free lance writer for The Washington Post.

Perhaps best-known as a historian and biographer, Mr. Smith is currently at work on a life of Nelson A. Rockefeller based on extensive original research and interviews with Rockefeller associates. Smith's first major book, “Thomas E. Dewey and His Times”, was a finalist for the 1983 Pulitzer Prize. He has also written “An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover” (1984), “The Harvard Century: The Making of a University to a Nation” (1986), and “Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation “(1993). “The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick” received the prestigious Goldsmith Prize awarded by Harvard's John F. Kennedy School, and was described by Hilton Kramer as "the best book ever written about the press."

"There's no excuse for a dull book, a dull museum, or a dull speech," says Mr. Smith. "Especially when dealing with history - the most fascinating subject I know."

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THE WILLIAM H. TIMBERS '37 LECTURE

"Science and the Law: Uncomfortable Bedfellows"

Jed S. Rakoff, U.S. District Judge, Southern District of NY

4:30 PM – 3 Rockefeller Hall

Biographical Information

Jed Saul Rakoff (born 1943) is a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. He was appointed on January 4, 1996, and entered on duty on March 1, 1996. Rakoff graduated with honors in English literature from Swarthmore College (B.A. 1964), earned his M. Phil. from Balliol College at Oxford University (1966), and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School (J.D. 1969). He has received honorary degrees from Saint Francis University and from Swarthmore.

After serving as law clerk to the late Honorable Abraham Freedman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Rakoff spent two years in private practice at Debevoise & Plimpton before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. He spent seven years with the Office, the last two as Chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Prosecutions Unit. He then returned to private practice where he was a partner first with Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Ferdon, and then with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. He headed both firms' criminal defense and civil RICO sections.

Since 1988, Judge Rakoff has been a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, teaching a fall semester seminar on White Collar Crime, and a Spring semester seminar on the Interplay of Civil and Criminal Law. He is a leading authority on the law of white collar crime, and has authored many articles on the topic, as well as leading treatises on RICO and corporate sentencing. Speaking about the federal mail fraud statute, Rakoff wrote, "To federal prosecutors of white-collar crime, the mail fraud statute is our Stradivarius, our Colt .45, our Louisville Slugger, our Cuisinart -- and our true love. We may flirt with [other laws] and call the conspiracy law 'darling,' but we always come home to the virtues of [mail fraud], with its simplicity, adaptability, and comfortable familiarity. It understands us and, like many a foolish spouse, we like to think we understand it."

Swarthmore, in conferring his honorary degree, noted that Rakoff is "broadly recognized as a legal thinker, scholar and judge who not only elucidates and enforces the law, but interprets, defends and challenges it in light of the principles of ethics and social justice that it is designed to serve" and that his opinions "are cited as models of intellectual clarity and judicial vision by lawyers and judges throughout this nation."

Timbers Lecture Description

In May 1995, a Dartmouth endowment fund was established in memory of the honorable William H. Timbers, '37, by the legal firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, for whom Timbers once practiced. Judge Timbers was an esteemed lawyer and Judge of U.S. District Court for Connecticut, 1960 and Judge of U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, 1971-81. The fund is used to support activities related to the study of law and justice within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as well as supporting “visiting speakers, panel discussions, and conferences on topics relating to the law.”

Co-sponsored with the Dartmouth Legal Studies faculty and the Dartmouth Lawyers Association

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THE PORTMAN LECTURE IN THE SPIRIT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Richard Parsons, Chairman of the Board and former CEO, Time Warner

4:30 PM – 105 Dartmouth Hall

Biographical Information

Richard D. Parsons is Chairman of the Board of Time Warner, whose businesses include filmed entertainment, interactive services, television networks, cable systems and publishing. From May 2002 to December 2007, Mr. Parsons served as Time Warner's Chief Executive Officer. He became Chairman of the Board in May 2003.

As CEO, Mr. Parsons led Time Warner's turnaround and set the company on a solid path toward achieving sustainable growth. In the process, he put in place the industry's most experienced and successful management team, strengthened the company's balance sheet and simplified its corporate structure, and carried out a disciplined approach to realigning the company's portfolio of assets to improve returns. In its January 2005 report on America's Best CEOs, Institutional Investor magazine named Mr. Parsons the top CEO in the entertainment industry.

Before becoming CEO, Mr. Parsons served as the company's Co-Chief Operating Officer, overseeing its content businesses-Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, Warner Music Group and Time Warner Book Group-as well as two key corporate functions: Legal and People Development.

Mr. Parsons joined Time Warner as its President in February 1995, and has been a member of the company's Board of Directors since January 1991. As President, he oversaw the company's filmed entertainment and music businesses, and all corporate staff functions, including financial activities, legal affairs, public affairs and administration.

Before joining Time Warner, Mr. Parsons was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dime Bancorp, Inc., one of the largest thrift institutions in the United States. Previously, he was the managing partner of the New York law firm Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler. Prior to that, he held various positions in state and federal government, as counsel for Nelson Rockefeller and as a senior White House aide under President Gerald Ford. Mr. Parsons received his undergraduate education at the University of Hawaii and his legal training at Union University's Albany Law School.

Mr. Parsons' civic and non-profit commitments include Co-Chairman of the Mayor's Commission on Economic Opportunity in New York; Chairman Emeritus of the Partnership for New York City; Chairman of the Apollo Theatre Foundation and service on the boards of Howard University, the Museum of Modern Art and the American Museum of Natural History. He also serves on the boards of Citigroup and Estée Lauder.

Portman Lecture Description

The Portman Lectures in the Spirit of Entrepreneurship bring to campus cutting-edge policy thinkers and practitioners in the areas of small business development and entrepreneurship. These may include small business persons and entrepreneurs; high ranking government officials; leaders of prominent business organizations; researchers from leading universities, think tanks and foundations concentrating on issues of small business development; and state directors of economic development. Distinguished guests may spend one or more days on campus, give a public lecture, participate in classes and meet informally with students to discuss related issues and career possibilities.

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Rockefeller Center and the League of Women Voters of the Upper Valley Lecture

" America's Place in the World "

Stephen Brooks, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth College

4:30 PM – 3 Rockefeller Hall

Biographical Information

Stephen G. Brooks is an Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth, and has previously held fellowships at Harvard and Princeton. He is the author of Producing Security: Multinational Corporations, Globalization, and the Changing Calculus of Conflict (Princeton University Press, 2005) and World out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy (Princeton University Press, 2008). He has published articles in International Security, International Organization, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Perspectives on Politics, Security Studies, and Foreign Affairs. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science with Distinction from Yale University in 2001, where his dissertation received the American Political Science Association's Helen Dwight Reid Award for the best doctoral dissertation in international relations, law, and politics.

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A Nelson A. Rockefeller Centennial Series Panel

Professor Emeritus Government and Politics, University of Maryland
Research Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, George Washington University

MONDAY, MAY 19

4:30 PM • 3 Rockefeller Hall

In support of the Dartmouth Centers Forum 2008 theme, "Class Divide"

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A Nelson A. Rockefeller Centennial Series Conference

GOING TO EXTREMES: THE FATE OF THE POLITICAL CENTER IN AMERICAN POLITICS

THURSDAY, JUNE 19 - SATURDAY, JUNE 21

CONVENED BY RONALD G. SHAIKO

Senior Fellow and Associate Director for Curricular and Research Programs, Rockefeller Center, Dartmouth College

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The Rockefeller Center is part of the Dartmouth Centers Forum, a collaborative alliance to promote an open campus-wide dialogue on complex issues.

Previous Public Events can be viewed here.