Post date: March 6, 2003 — 9 a.m.
On Tues., March 11, seven leading scholars will gather to consider the legal, political, and social implications of increasing privatization of formerly public goods and services. The symposium, sponsored by the Harvard Law Review, will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Ames Courtroom. It is free and open to the public. Among the topics to be considered are school vouchers, faith-based initiatives, and contracting out of major federal programs, such as welfare.
“The past decade has brought intensive experimentation as federal, state, and local governments turn to private companies and religious organizations to run prisons, schools, drug treatment, job training, and other publicly funded activities,” said Harvard Law School Professor Martha Minow, who drafted the lead article in the Law Review’s March 2003 symposium issue. “In the search for competitive efficiencies and spiritual resources, should governments still insist on compliance with antidiscrimination laws, due process, and public oversight and participation? Determining the scope of these and other public values in this moment of privatization could well affect the prospects for democracy, religious freedom, and social cohesion for the entire nation.”
Symposium speakers include Minow, Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan, Professor John DiIulio of the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Jody Freeman of the UCLA School of Law, Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and Professor Michael Trebilcock of the University of Toronto. The event will be moderated by Kennedy School of Government Professor Mark Moore.
The Harvard Law Review, an entirely student-edited journal founded in 1887 by future Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, has the largest circulation of any law journal in the world.
For additional information, please contact Rebecca Onie or Latonia Haney.
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