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The Communitarian Update
Number 49
October 31, 2002
Tell us what you think!
There has been much controversy recently over a movement on many campuses calling on
universities to divest from Israel. Critics believe this movement, and the statements made in
support of it, are anti-Semitic. Those in favor of divestment believe such accusations amount to
academic McCarthyism and stifle debate on the issue, while the critics of divestment say they are
only exercising their own speech rights. What is your opinion of the divestment issue, and of the
nature of the debate surrounding it?
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.
You may find it helpful to look at a speech made by Harvard President Larry Summers on the
issue, available at http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/2002/morningprayers.html. His
speech and the debate over divestment have been commented on extensively in the media, and
you may also be interested in consulting this coverage.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Ways We Celebrate: Holidays and Rituals as Sources and Indicators of Social Values
George Washington Univ., April 11-12, 2003
The Communitarian Network invites you 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 sources and indicators of social values." 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 information about the developing program, 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 Univ., 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, such as the Department of Cultural Studies
and Sociology at the University of Birmingham, 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.
Not Wanted: Guns in the Classified section
Gun-control activists in 16 states are pressuring newspaper publishers to refrain from running ads
for guns in the classified sections of their papers. Licensed gun dealers are required to run
background checks before selling a gun, and can refuse to sell to a customer with a criminal
record or a restraining order. A private individual selling a gun is required only to check to make
sure the buyer is licensed to own a firearm. But some who have had their licences revoked still
retain copies of their physical licence cards, and are thus able to fool private sellers. A recent
survey conducted by a consortium of gun-control groups found that 77 % of the 282 newspapers
they surveyed accepted ads for private gun sales. (Wall Street Journal, 10/17/02)
Pollsters find profiling unpopular
According to a survey conducted by Public Agenda, Americans overwhelmingly rejected racial
profiling as a security measure. 92% said that if law enforcement officials are going to conduct
background checks on people taking flying lessons, they should screen everyone, regardless of
background or name. When asked how airport officials should go about selecting which
passenger to search, 58% of those surveyed said officials should pick randomly, and another 25%
said officials should search only those who are on a list os suspects. Only 11% said officials
should search those with Arabic names or Middle Eastern appearance.
Bad Medicine
During the last 10 years, 13 prescription drugs have been taken off the market because they were
dangerous. Before they were called back, these drugs caused hundreds of deaths and thousands of
injuries. David Sigelman argues in The American Prospect (9/23/02) that these drugs were let
onto the market in the first place because the FDA has been speeding up its regulatory reviews.
Sigelman posits that this dangerous speed-up might be connected to the fact that much of the
FDA's funding comes from drug companies, in the form of "user fees." Congress so far has
failed to investigate.
Diversity Within Unity project update
The Honorable David Blunkett, the British Home Secretary, has accepted an invitation to co-chair the Diversity Within Unity Conference. This second meeting on the DWU project will draw
political leaders from around the globe. A specific date and place will be announced soon. We
continue to solicit and receive endorsements as conference planning continues. For more
information, contact mdunkelman@communitariannetwork.org
Notable Quote
"The number one task of the world today is to move from interdependence - which can be good
or bad - to an integrated global community in which there is a shared future, shared
responsibilities, shared prosperity, and most important, shared values." - former President Bill
Clinton, in an address to the British Labor Party Conference on Oct. 2, '02. The full text of the
speech is available at http://www.labour.org.uk/clintonconfspeech.
Engineering Ethics
In response to controversy over the implications of technology, interest in ethics education has
been growing in engineering programs. Currently, 17 % of accredited engineering programs have
one or more required courses in ethics. Some schools, such as University of Michigan and
Illinois Institute of Technology, have begun to look for ways to integrate ethics across the
curriculum. For further discussion of engineering ethics, see Joseph R. Herkert's article
"Continuing and Emerging Issues in Engineering Ethics Education," in the Fall 2002 issue of The
Bridge, available at http://www.nae.edu/NAE/naehome.nsf/weblinks/MKEZ-5F7SA4?OpenDocument.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The National Civic League's 108th National Conference on
Governance
"New Approaches to Political Reform," Nov. 15-16, Washington, DC
Speakers include Paul Taylor, Executive Director of the Alliance for Better Campaigns; Rich
Harwood, President of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation; Stephanie Wilson, Executive
Director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project; and others!
For additional information, contact Chanell Reed at the National Civic League at (303) 571-4343, or creed@ncl.org.
Registration available on-line at www.ncl.org.
The Communitarian Network has organized three sessions at the annual meeting of the
Association of American Law Schools this coming January in Washington, DC. Session topics
will be "The Scope of Children's First Amendment Rights," "Communitarian Perspectives on
Cyberspace," and "The Limits of Privacy." We are particularly delighted to report that Michael
Chertoff, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice will
participate in the third session. He has been in charge of the investigation of Enron and other
corporate scandals, as well as aspects of the war on terrorism. For further information on the
AALS sessions, see http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/aalspanelists.html.
PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST
-"Summary Report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001," by Chistopher Allen
and Jorgen Nielsen (European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, May '02).
Presents a comparative analysis of acts of aggression and changes in attitudes towards Muslims
and other minority groups across the European Union in the wake of 9/11.
Available at http://eumc.eu.int/publications/terror-report/Synthesis-report_en.pdf.
-"Knowing it by Heart: Americans Consider the Constitution and its Meaning," by Steve Farkas,
Jean Johnson, and Ann Duffett (Public Agenda and the National Constitution Center, '02) A
national survey of public attitudes on the Constitution, including the balancing of rights and
responsibilities and the war on terrorism.
Available at
http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/constitution/constitution.htm
-"Detention and Treatment of Combatants in the War on Terrorism," by Lee A. Casey, David B.
Rivkin, Jr., and Darin R. Bartram (The Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies '02).
Explains the laws, conventions, and traditions relevant to the treatment of unlawful combatants.
Available at http://www.fed-soc.org.
Subscribe to the Responsive Community
Visit The Responsive Community on our web: http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq.
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.communitariannetwork.org. Recent endorsers include Laurie
Damba-Garner (Buffalo, NY), Ruel Eskelsen (Washington, DC), Michael P. Moore
(Minneapolis, MN), Professor William Riggs (Laredo, TX), and Vaughn Thompson (Littleton,
CO).
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