The Stanley Muroff Forum: Focus on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, April 30, 2004

The John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy hosted a forum on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights at The Ohio State University's main campus. The forum featured the OSU faculty from a variety of fields, and recent university alumni who also participated in the Institute's Washington Academic Internship Program as part of their undergraduate preparation. The participants explored contentious, important, and highly relevant issues related to the protection of civil liberties and civil rights.

The faculty forum addressed the critical question of how one's academic discipline and training affect one's approach to public policy, as well as identify the cases and concerns that an engaged citizen should understand. The faculty participants were:

Professor Michael Les Benedict, who joined the Department of History faculty in 1970 and is a recognized authority in Anglo-American constitutional and legal history, the history of civil rights and civil liberties, the federal system and the Civil War and Reconstruction. Professor Benedict teaches courses in American legal and constitutional history, and philosophy of history and historiography, and undergraduate and graduate seminars in 19th-century American history. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. from Rice University. He is the author of many essays and books, includingThe Blessings of Liberty. He is also an adjunct professor of The Ohio State University School of Law.

Professor Deborah Jones Merritt is the Director of the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy and holds the John Deaver/Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law. Professor Merritt graduated from Columbia Law School in 1980, where she was Managing Editor of the Columbia Law Review. She clerked for Judge (now Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court of the United States. Prior to accepting the Drinko Chair in 1995, Professor Merritt practiced law in Atlanta and served as member of the law faculty at the University of Illinois. She has published widely on issues of equality, affirmative action, federalism, health and technology, legal education, tort reform, and law and social science. Professor Merritt has delivered one of The Ohio State University's Distinguished Lectures and in 2002, the University recognized her with one of its Distinguished Scholar Awards.

Mr. Mark Jacobson is a visiting scholar at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of International Security and Public Policy. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs. Mr. Jacobson has worked extensively with the U.S. Department of Defense, where most recently he was assigned to a team that developed policy for the detention of enemy combatants at Gunatanamo Bay, Cuba. In December 2003, he was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service. Mr. Jacobson is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A., History), The Ohio State University (M.A., History), and The Department of War Studies, King's College, London (M.A.).

Dr. Elizabeth M. Boles is a political scientist with wide-ranging interests in civil society and democratization, models of citizenship and leadership, and theories of revolutionary change and political violence. She earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Stanford University and her Master's and Doctorate degrees from University of California, Berkeley. She has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Pomona College, and U.C. Berkeley, where she was the recipient of the first Rhoda Goldman Award for Extraordinary Contributions to Undergraduate Education. In her current role as Director of the John Glenn Institute's Washington Academic Internship Program, she brings Ohio State students to the nation's capital to engage in public policy research and participate in substantive internships.

The alumni forum featured Glenn Fellows now studying and working in the fields of law, public policy, and public service.  Each participant shared views and experiences on the challenges of enforcing and protecting rights and liberties in an age of insecurity, changing norms, and deep political divides.  The participants in this forum included:

Paul Price, a Juris Doctorate candidate at the Cleveland State University's Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He is the editor of Cleveland-Marshall's Journal of Law and Health while working as the law clerk at the law office of Wuliger, Fadel, & Beyer assisting in the firm's civil litigation division. Mr. Price was a Glenn Fellow in the inaugural class, Spring 2000, and interned at the communications office of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He graduated from Ohio State in 2001 with a Bachelors of Arts in Journalism and Political Science.

Dan Roth is in his final year at Boston College Law School (BCLS) and after graduation in May 2004, he will participate in a one-year fellowship as a Dorot Judicial Selection Fellow at the Alliance for Justice in Washington, D.C. Mr. Roth served as President of the BCLS chapter of the American Constitution Society and has been employed as a research assistant to Professor Aviam Soifer and as a summer associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Klein Hornig, LLP. Mr. Roth graduated summa cum laude from Ohio State with majors in History, English, and Political Science. As a Glenn Fellow in Fall 2000, he interned at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Jessica Strong is currently in her first year at The H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Non-Profit Management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Her areas of concentration are public finance and community development, and immigration policy. Ms. Strong was a Glenn Fellow in the inaugural class of Spring 2000 and she interned at InterAction, an umbrella organization overseeing more than 160 international non-profit organizations. She graduated magna cum laude from The Ohio State University in 2002, with majors in Spanish and International Studies.

Megan Vahey is the Executive Assistant to the Mayor of the City of Toledo, where she is responsible for guiding Mayor Jack Ford's agenda and activities and advising him and his administration on matters of policy and procedure. Before her current position, Ms. Vahey served as the City of Toledo's Public Information Officer. She was a John Glenn Fellow in the inaugural class of Spring 2000 and worked as the press office intern for Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). Ms. Vahey graduated from The Ohio State University in 2001with a major in Political Science.

Amanda Wendorff is currently in her first year at Harvard Law School. She graduated from The Ohio State University in Spring of 2003, summa cum laude and with distinction, as a double major and Political Science and Economics. Ms. Wendorff participated in the Washington Academic Internship Program in Spring 2002 and she interned at The World Bank's Finance Sector.