|
 |
Nanette Shaw
As nuclear weapons continue to proliferate in new corners of the post-Cold War world, perhaps the biggest threat of all is complacency. Organizers of a major international conference to be held at The City University of New York Graduate Center in November hope to reestablish awareness of the current nuclear threat, in its various guises, among educators, researchers, and students at universities. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and author/professor Robert Jay Lifton will be among the speakers at "The Second Nuclear Age and the Academy." The conference will be held on Friday, November 17, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m, and Saturday, November 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, in New York City. The registration fee is $35, but free to students. According to the event’s organizers, "The goal of the conference is to break through the psychic numbing regarding the nuclear threat that grips America and work through the academy to energize the general public, as well as policymakers, to find creative solutions to American and international security." They are aiming their effort at the academy in an attempt to reawaken this former hotbed of antinuclear activity. The conference is co-sponsored by The Center on Violence and Human Survival at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The Nation Institute, and the Office of Continuing Education and Public Programs at the CUNY Graduate Center. Financial support has been provided by the Ford, Lifebridge, and Simons foundations. "The Second Nuclear Age and the Academy" will consist of a series of plenary panels and break-out discussions on specific topics related to the current nuclear situation. Each panel will include a number of well-known and highly regarded experts in this field. An overview of the sessions follows: Friday, November 17 General Address by Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations. "Human Confusions About Contemporary Weapons" This panel will begin with a presentation by Robert Jay Lifton, head of the Center on Violence and Human Survival. Lifton is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the CUNY Graduate Center and John Jay College. He has been writing about the nuclear threat for nearly half a century, and his books include Destroying the World to Save It and The Genocidal Mentality, and Hiroshima in America (coauthor). Other panelists include Zia Mian of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Princeton University and Patricia Williams, professor of law at Columbia University. "The Second Nuclear Age" This panel will begin with a presentation by Professor Jonathan Schell of Wesleyan University; Professor Schell is one of the leading thinkers about the post-Cold War world. He will be followed by Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice at Princeton University. Other panelists include Columbia University’s Craig Wolff and SUNY at Albany history professor Lawrence Wittner, author of a three-volume history of the antinuclear movement. "President’s Panel" This panel, comprised entirely of college and university presidents, will discuss ways in which the academy can be redirected toward a serious consideration of the nuclear menace. Participants include Frances Degen Horowitz of The CUNY Graduate Center, Peter Gabel (New College of California), Christopher Breiseth (Wilkes University), and Barbara Mosberg (Goddard College). "Star Wars (NMD) and Human Future" This discussion will begin with a presentation by Theodore Postol, Professor of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Postol has been a fearless critic of the continuing NMD program and has written widely on the subject. Other participants include Frances Fitzgerald, author of Way Out There in the Blue, about Ronald Reagan and the history of "star wars," and Rolf Ekeus, former Swedish Ambassador to the United States and former Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, the United Nations Special Commission for Iraq. Saturday, November 18 Workshops A number of simultaneous two-hour workshop sessions will be led by younger faculty and activists on topics including "the Legality and Morality of Nuclear Weapons"; "Gender and Weapons"; "Teaching an Antinuclear Curriculum"; "Developing an Antinuclear Movement"; "Nuclear Weapons and the Environment"; "Creating Coalitions Between Antinuclear and Social Justice Movements"; "Nuclear Weapons and the War System"; and "Following the Money Trail of Nuclear Weapons." These will be interactive, participatory discussions. "Nuclear Ethics and Citizen Responsibility" This panel will begin with a statement by Randall Forsberg, Director of the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies. Panelists include Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University, and David Tracy, professor at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. The panel will be chaired by Jennifer Simons, President of the Simons Foundation, which funds grassroots efforts to develop awareness of the nuclear threat. The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of The City University of New York, the largest urban university in the U.S. The only consortium of its kind in the nation, The Graduate Center draws its faculty of more than 1,600 members mainly from the CUNY senior colleges and cultural and scientific institutions throughout New York City. Established in 1961, The Graduate Center has grown to an enrollment of nearly 4,000 students in 32 doctoral programs and seven master's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The Graduate Center also houses 28 research centers and institutes and administers the CUNY Baccalaureate Program. According to a recent National Research Council report, more than a third of The Graduate Center's rated programs rank among the nation's top 20 at public and private institutions, nearly a quarter are among the top ten when compared to publicly supported institutions alone, and more than half are among the top five programs at publicly supported institutions in the northeast. Further information on The Graduate Center's programs and activities can be found on its Web site at: www.gc.cuny.edu. |