Sandra Hodgkinson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Detainee Affairs,
makes a point while Joe McMillan, a partner at Perkins Coie, listens.
McMillan worked pro bono on the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case that successfully challenged legality of military commissions established to try
detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Photo by Matt Hagen.

Law school hosts major academic conferences

The law school has hosted four major academic conferences so far this semester, exploring the topics of terrorism; the use of race in school assignments; globalization and justice; and law and religion.

“What is to be Done With ‘Terrorists?” featured nationally known speakers representing a diversity of opinions on the questions, “How Do We Decide Who Are ‘Terrorists?’ What Do We Do With Them While We’re Deciding? and How Much ‘Process’ Are They ‘Due?’” Among the participants were retired Major General John D. Altenburg Jr., former head of the military commissions; J. Wells Dixon, Center for Constitutional Rights; Sandra Hodgkinson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs; Charles W. Swift ’94, Emory University School of Law and Professor Michael Greenberger, University of Maryland Law School, and Kyndra Rotunda, Major, JAG, U.S. Army Reserves, author: Honor Bound: Inside the Guantanamo Trials. (Pictured on front page)

Associate Professor Bryan Adamson organized “Brown Undone? The Future of Integration in Seattle After PICS v. Seattle School District No. 1” to address the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2007 ruling that the Seattle School District can’t use race as a tie-breaker in school assignments. Distinguished civil rights leaders in law, education, school administration and the community, reflecting a broad array of opinions, examined the court’s decision and discussed its impact upon future efforts toward diversity in public education.

A Globalization and Justice Conference was held in February, under the direction Professor Maggie Chon. Chon, director of the university’s Center for the Study of Justice in Society, worked with Associate Professor Ron Slye, director of the law school’s Center for Global Justice.

The program brought together faculty members at Seattle University who have worked in global contexts to encourage in-depth conversations about what it means to do global scholarship. Keynote addresses were given by Anil K. Gupta of the Indian Institute of Management (India) and co-founder of the Honeybee Network, and Francisco Valdes of the University of Miami School of Law and co-founder of LatCrit: Latina and Latino Critical Legal Theory, Inc.

The law school also presented “Pluralism, Religion and the Law: A Conversation at the Intersection of Identity, Faith, and Legal Reasoning. It covered topics such as “Liberation vs. Oppression: The Role of Religious Morality in Shaping Legal Freedoms,” and “Religious Influences on Ethics, Professionalism and the Practice of Law.” Peter Fitzpatrick, professor at The School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London, gave the keynote address. The program was organized by Associate Professors Christian Halliburton, Natasha Martin and Russell Powell.