U.S. Secretary of Defense to Speak at Yale

Secretary of Defense William Cohen will speak at Yale University on Friday, September 26, at 7:30 p.m. His talk,part of the Yale Law School Alumni Reunion dinner, is not open to the public. Members of the media are invited to cover the event.

The talk will be held in University Commons, the dining room attached to Woolsey Hall. Members of the press are requested to enter from Beinecke Plaza on Wall St., using the door closest to High St. Please bring media identification. Credentials will be issued at the door. A “mult box” will be provided. The hall will be open for setups from 6:45 p.m. Photographers are requested to limit close shots to the first five minutes of the talk and to remain in the press area after that time.

Mr. Cohen has served as the nation’s Secretary of Defence since January 1997. Prior to that, he served three terms in the U.S. Senate, representing the State of Maine (1979-1997) and three terms in the House of Representatives from Maine’s Second Congressional District (1973-1979). In the Senate, he was a member of Armed Services Committe, the Governmental Affairs Committee, and the Select Committee on Intelligence. Please see the attached biography for more details.

Other Law School Alumni Weekend events of interest to the media include a lecture and a panel discussion, both open to the public. Media coverage is welcome.

Martin C.M. Lee, chair of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, will present the Ralph Gregory Elliot Lecture on the topic “Freedom and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong” at 4 p.m. on Friday in Rm. 127 of the Sterling Law Building, 127 Wall St.

Mr. Lee was first elected to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in 1985. There, he fought for full democratic elections, opposed press censorship and sought to safeguard the rule of law. A former chair of the United Democrats of Hong Kong, the colony’s first political party, Mr. Lee founded the Democratic Party in 1994. When Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule on July 1 of this year, Beijing disbanded the elected Legislative Council and replaced it with an appointed Provisional Legislature.

A panel discussion on “Revolution and Repair: Coming to Terms with the Injustices of Past Regimes,” will examine the aftermath of upheavals in South Africa, Chile and the former Soviet republics. The discussion will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Law School’s Levinson Auditorium.

Participants in the panel will be Alex L. Boraine, vice chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the Republic of South Africa; Jorge Correa ‘82 LL.M., former executive director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the Republic of Chile; and Tina Rosenberg, foreign-policy editorial writer for The New York Times and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts After Communism.” The panel will be moderated by Professor Robert A. Burt of the Law School.

Also on Saturday, the Yale Law School Association will present Awards of Merit to three alumni judges who are serving on the International Court of Justice, The Hague. They are: Rosalyn Higgins ‘62 J.S.D. of England; Shigeru Oda ‘52 LL.M. ‘53 J.S.D. of Japan; and Stephen M. Schwebel ‘54 LL.B. of the United States, who is president of the court. The awards will be presented at the Alumni Luncheon in University Commons. The event, closed to the public, will also feature remarks by John H.F. Shattuck, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. Please contact the Office of Public Affairs to arrange for media coverage of the awards ceremony.