BALSA presents the Paul Robeson Conference

Paul Robeson Conference

Columbia Black Law Students Association presents Paul Robeson Conference

The Paul Robeson Conference is an annual event honoring the legacy of Paul Robeson, a civil rights and international social justice activist and one of Columbia Law School's most esteemed alumni. The theme for this event is democracy: vote. right. act. This conference will offer a comparative survey of the process of democracy in the United States and various African nations through a conceptual framework articulated in the Voter's Rights Act of 1965: vote, right, and act.

The conference will be held on Friday, April 1, 2005. A host of distinguished panelists and speakers will convene at the law school to discuss issues related to the voting process and the concept of representative democracy; voter disenfranchisement; and participatory democracy, with an emphasis on democratic transition/nation building

Participants include: Peter Rosenblum, Clinical Professor of Law, Human Rights Clinic, Columbia Law School; Lee Cokorinos, Executive Director, Capacity Development Group (Luncheon Keynote Speaker); Guy-Uriel Charles, Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School; Diallo Shabazz, Regional Youth Field Director, NAACP; H. Kwasi Prempeh, Professor of Law, Seton Hall Law School; Barbara Ferris, Founder and President of the International Women's Democracy Center; and Thomas Lansner, Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Affairs at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and Columbia's Center for the Study of Human Rights.

The conference schedule is as follows:

9:00 a.m.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Jerome L. Greene Hall Lobby

10:00 a.m.

WELCOME & OPENING REMARKS

10:15 a.m.

DISCUSSION I: VOTE "The Voting Process and Representative Democracy"

11:45 a.m.

DISCUSSION II: RIGHT "Voter Intimidation and Disenfranchisement"

1:15 p.m.

DEDICATION TO THE LEGACY OF PAUL ROBESON LUNCHEON

(RSVP REQUIRED)*

Drapkin Lounge

2:45 p.m.

DISCUSSION III: ACT "Participatory Democracy, Democratic Transition, and Nation Building"

ALL DISCUSSIONS WILL TAKE PLACE IN JEROME GREEN ROOM 106.

* PLEASE DIRECT LUNCHEON RSVP AND ALL INQUIRIES TO KRISTEN WILLIAMS, CONFERENCE CHAIR, AT kvw2101@columbia.edu .