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The Communitarian Update
Number 50
December 4, 2002
Tell us what you think!
We hear daily about new measures that are meant to enhance national security, but are criticized
as endangering our rights. If you take it for granted that the events of 9/11 do call for some new
homeland protection measures, but believe other measures are clearly excessive-what criteria
should we apply to sort out what is needed and what is "too much"? Can one still use the criteria
of a "reasonable person" in our complex society?
Please respond briefly and tell us how to identify you. We do not run anonymous responses
because we hold that true identities make for better dialogues. Please also provide some details,
if not your affiliation, at least your town and nation, to help us understand your perspective.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
AALS Annual Meeting Panel Discussions
The Communitarian Network has organized three sessions at the annual meeting of the
Association of American Law Schools, Jan. 2-5, '03, in Washington, DC. Session topics will be
"The Scope of Children's First Amendment Rights," "Communitarian Perspectives on
Cyberspace,"and "The Limits of Privacy." Panel members include Emily Buss (U. of Chicago
Law), Barbara Woodhouse (U. of Florida Law), Jack Balkin (Yale Law), Carol Rose (Yale Law),
Eugene Volokh (UCLA Law), Michael Chertoff (Asst. Attorney General, Criminal Div., Dept. of
Justice), Anita Allen (U. of Pennsylvania Law), and Christopher Slobogin (U. of Florida Law).
Session chairs are Dawn Nunziato (George Washington U.), Peter Levine (U. of Maryland), and
Amitai Etzioni (George Washington U.). For more information on the AALS sessions see
http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/aalspanelists.html.
Conference on Marriage, Family and Religion
Sex, Marriage and Family and the Religions of the Book: Modern Problems, Enduring Solutions
Emory U., March 27-29, '03
The conference will examine problems of marriage and family life over the last 25 years and
explore solutions. Eighty distinguished experts from a range of fields will outline and debate the
issues from a multitude of religious and political perspectives. Keynote speakers include Robert
Bellah, Martin Marty, Rebecca Chopp and Robert Wuthnow. Hosted by Emory's Center for the
Interdisciplinary Study of Religion (CISR) and supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Information about the event at http://www.law.emory.edu/cisr/events.htm.
CALLS FOR PAPERS
The Ways We Celebrate: Holidays and Rituals as Seedbeds of Social Values
George Washington U., April 11-12, '03.
You are invited to participate in a conference that aims to highlight the importance of holidays
and rituals within society and as a fertile field for academic study. Paper proposals on a wide
range of topics are welcomed, as long as they relate to the conference theme: "Holidays and rituals
as seedbeds of social values." Regular registration deadline is Jan. 1, '03. If
you wish to present a paper, or serve as a chair or organizer of a session, or for additional
information, please contact Elizabeth Tulis at The Communitarian Network, 2130 H Street,
N.W., Suite 703, Washington, D.C. 20052; 202.994.8167; etulis@gwu.edu. For more
information about the developing program, please visit our website at
http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/the_ways_we_celebrate.html.
9th Annual Human Sciences Conference: Academic Labor and the New Politics of Consensus
George Washington U., Feb. 28-March 1, '03
The focus will be the interrelations between the following pressing problems: 1) the embattled
situation, and even dismantlement, of academic institutions and programs due to the cash-nexus
logic of 'efficiency' and 'excellence'; 2) the exploitation of intellectual labor, especially within
the lower ranks of the university hierarchy; 3) the recent (and historical) interests in national
and international unity vis-à-vis the terrorist enemy; and 4)
the cross-disciplinary decline of dissent in the post-Cold War and post-9/11 university. Deadline
for panel proposals is Dec. 2, '02 and deadline for papers is Jan. 8, '03. For further information, or to submit a proposal, contact
labor@gwu.edu.
NEW Website
The Communitarian Network has a new website! Let us know what you think!
www.communitariannetwork.org
Help Others, Live Longer
According to a recent study, people who exhibit a "giving spirit" also live longer. Studying a
group of 423 randomly selected older married couples over a period of five years, University of
Michigan psychologist Stephanie Brown and her team of researchers found that the seniors who
were helpful to relatives, neighbors or friends were 60% less likely to die during the period of the
study than the seniors who did not give help to others. Dr. Brown reports on her study in an
upcoming issue of Psychological Science. (Washington Post, 11/17/02)
Campaign to Improve Business Ethics Education
In the aftermath of recent corporate scandals, over 125 professors and practicing managers have
endorsed a letter to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) that
calls for tougher standards for ethics education in business degree programs. The letter was
authored by Duane Windsor, Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Management at Rice Univ. To view
a copy of Prof. Windsor's letter, visit the website for the Intl. Assn. for Business and Society at
http://www.iabs.net and click on "The AACSB Ethics Initiative" and then "Call." Those wishing
to endorse the letter can send an e-mail to the AACSB office at MILTON@AACSB.edu.
New Study: Non-profit vs. For-Profit Dialysis Centers
A recent AMA Journal study finds that for-profit dialysis centers have an 8% higher risk of
kidney failure deaths than non-profit ones. The authors blame the discrepancy on the financial
pressures experienced by for-profit centers, and conclude that profit status of medical facilities
can have a notable effect on medical care. (Wall Street Journal, 11/20/02; JAMA, 11/20/02).
Full text of the study can be found at http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v288n19/rpdf/jrv20067.pdf.
Diversity Within Unity project update
As we continue to plan the Diversity Within Unity conference (dates to be announced soon), we
are pleased to note that both the former president of Costa Rica, Miguel Rodriguez, and the
former president of the German Bundestag, Rita Sussmuth, have endorsed the Position Paper.
For more information, please contact Marc Dunkelman, director of the DWU Project, at
mdunkelman@communitariannetwork.org.
Socially Responsible Investing: New TIAA-CREF Retirement Fund
In the '80s, a national group of professors and staff lobbied TIAA-CREF (TC) to set up a socially
responsible fund. Now they've lobbied again to improve that fund so that it will not only avoid
certain companies, but also invest in particularly responsible ones and in low-income area
housing/business. TC has now publically stated that they will set up a new fund, but requires
additional professors and staff to commit to transferring their current TC assets to the new fund,
should it be established. To learn more about the proposed fund, visit
http://www.manchester.edu/academic/programs/departments/peace_studies/fund.
PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST
"Sacred Vows, Public Purposes: Religion, the Marriage Movement and Marriage Policy," by W.
Bradford Wilcox (The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, July '02). Examines the place of
religion in contemporary public discussions about marriage. Includes transcripts of panel
discussions from Pew Forum event on the paper. Available at
http://pewforum.org/publications/reports/marriagepolicy.pdf.
Coming Soon...
Keep an eye out for the upcoming issue of The Responsive Community, which will feature
articles on our personal responsibility for the decision to go to war, interracial marriages, and the
role of the United States in building a global community.
Subscribe to the Responsive Community
Visit The Responsive Community on our website: http://www.communitariannetwork.org.
If you would like to receive a FREE sample of our publication for yourself or your organization,
please let us know at comnet@gwu.edu, or call (800) 245-7460. Same to subscribe.
Welcome new endorsers!
Join other communitarians who have read and endorsed the Communitarian Platform. Go to our
web site: http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcplatform.html. Recent endorsers include Karen Patton
(Chicopee, MA), Michael Ege (President, City Democratic Club, San Francisco, CA), Professor
David Perry (Tuscaloosa, AL), Jennifer Lambert (McGaheyville, VA), and Carlos Amtmann
(Valdivia, Chile).
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