November 5, 2004 Inauguration Symposium

As part of Inauguration Day (November 5, 2004), a special afternoon symposium was staged in the Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium. "Universities and Moral Responsibility: Respecting Humanity at Home and Abroad" tackled the important topics of racism and genocide, focusing on the context and translation of these issues—how stories connected to racism and genocide are expressed in the arts, and how education addresses the underlying causes of, and remedies for, these human threats to humanity itself.

Starting with a satellite address by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, the symposium consisted of three consecutive discussions, each of about one hour's duration. The first panel discussed issues of racism; the second examined genocide; the third focused on the expression and dialogue connected to both racism and genocide.

The symposium also featured a reading by Martín Espada, widely regarded as the "Latino poet of his generation," and a presentation by Samantha Power, the author of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning book "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide."

Moderators were Hubert Brown, associate professor of broadcast journalism, and chair of the communications department at SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; William Safire, columnist for The New York Times; and Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, president of Marlboro College.

• See the list of panelists
• Read the printed program from the Inauguration Symposium (PDF - 6megs)
• See the recorded webcasts of each of the panels
• View a gallery of photos from the Inauguration Symposium