Head of National Endowment for the Humanities, Anne Frank Center Director Among Yale Speakers This Week

The following talks at Yale University the week of Oct. 5-11 are free and open to the public, unless noted otherwise.

NEH chair to speak at campus events William R. Ferris, chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), will be the guest at two campus events on Tuesday, Oct. 6. At 4 p.m., he will be the featured speaker at a tea in the Calhoun College master’s house, 189 Elm St. Later that evening, at 7:30 p.m., Ferris will address the Yale Political Union in Rm. 102 of Linsly-Chittenden Hall, 63 High St. This event is free for members of the Yale Political Union and $3 for nonmembers. Ferris has served since November of 1997 as chair of the NEH, an independent federal agency that is the largest financial supporter of humanities programs in the United States. Before being appointed by President Bill Clinton to head the NEH, Ferris was director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture and a professor of anthropology at the University of Mississippi. A prolific author, his scholarship includes the fields of folklore, American literature, music and photography. He spearheaded the creation of the best-selling “Encyclopedia of Southern Culture,” published in 1989. His films include “Mississippi Blues,” and he was a consultant for the movies “The Color Purple” and “Crossroads.” For nearly a decade until 1994, Ferris hosted “Highway 61,” a weekly blues music program that airs on Mississippi Public Radio.

Former Humane Society president to deliver Schweitzer Lecture John A. Hoyt, president emeritus of the Humane Society of the United States, will deliver the 1998 Schweitzer Lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 7. His topic will be “The Essential Ethic.” The lecture will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Rm. 208 of the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. Prior to the lecture, Hoyt will be the featured guest at a tea at 3 p.m. in the Silliman College master’s house, 71 Wall St. The Schweitzer Lectures were established in honor of the humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer and are cosponsored by the Albert Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities and the Whitney Humanities Center. For further information, call 432-0673.

Discussion to focus on gender, sexuality and human rights Ruth Teitel, a New York Law School professor and specialist on international human rights and constitutional law, will present a talk titled “Women, Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights: Theory and Practice: Social Constructions in a Global Age” on Wednesday, Oct. 7. Her talk, which is sponsored by Women’s and Gender Studies, will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Rm. 309 of William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. Teitel has written extensively on human rights and constitutionalism. Her articles have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Human Rights Law Journal, the Yale Journal of International Law and the University of Chicago Law School’s Eastern European Constitutional Review, among others. Her forthcoming book is titled “Transitional Justice.” She is a member of the steering committee for Helsinki Watch and of the executive advisory board for the Holocaust/Human Rights Research Project at Boston College Law School. She has been a regular commentator for Court TV regarding Bosnian war crimes trials conducted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Photographer George Platt Lynes is subject of informal talk “The Darkroom in the Rectory’s Attic: George Platt Lynes and Photography” is the title of a talk being given on Thursday, Oct. 8, during a 4 p.m. tea in the master’s house of Jonathan Edwards College, 70 High St. The featured speaker will be Anatole Pohorilenko, author of “When We Were Three: George Platt Lynes, Monroe Wheeler & Glenway Wescott 1925-1935.” The event is being offered in conjunction with the joint exhibit of Platt Lynes’ photography at Jonathan Edwards College and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Pohorilenko’s newly published essay “When We Were Three” explores the relationship between Platt Lynes, publisher Monroe Wheeler and writer Glenway Wescott during the period when they traveled together to various European cities, meeting such noted personalities as Thornton Wilder, Jean Cocteau, Katherine Anne Porter and Man Ray, among others. Inspired by the encouragement they received from Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas and other writers and artists, the three went on to pursue notable careers in the arts.

Educator will discuss Anne Frank’s diary at master’s tea Joyce Apsel, director of education for the Anne Frank Center USA, will discuss the topic “Anne Frank: History, Memory and Myth” on Thursday, Oct. 8, during a tea at 4:30 p.m. in the Calhoun College master’s house, 189 Elm St. Her talk will explore complex issues surrounding Anne Frank’s diary as well as issues of how history is told and retold. Through the New York City-based Anne Frank Center USA, Apsel teaches workshops and develops multidisciplinary educational programs for students, teachers and community groups that are designed to promote tolerance and a curriculum on human rights. She has worked at the center since 1996 and is also an attorney. In addition to numerous articles, she has authored “Anne Frank: A Study Guide to the Play” and “Teaching About Genocide.”

Physician-writer to talk about ‘poetry of healing’ Dr. Rafael Campo, an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and a writer, will discuss “AIDS & the Poetry of Healing” on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 5 p.m. in the Beaumont Room of the Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St. His talk is sponsored by the Program for Humanities in Medicine. Campo, who specializes in the care of people with AIDS, has explored such themes as the healing powers of language, touch, empathy and love in his writings. In his work, he also has discussed his own attempts to heal the ill as well as the ways his patients have healed him. He has been described as “a doctor of the soul,” and the Los Angeles Times described his work as “reminiscent of Chekhov … [in] the way language comes up out of the body.”

Activist to discuss the teaching of gay history Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), will deliver the 1998 Michael Hollister Memorial Lecture on the topic “Teaching Gay and Lesbian History in High School and College: Challenges, Successes and Visions.” His talk will take place on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 8 p.m. in the auditorium of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. The lecture is sponsored by the Yale Gay and Lesbian Alumni/ae Association and the Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies Committee. Jennings is known for his work in the fight for equality for gay and lesbian youth. He founded GLSEN in 1990. The organization is now the largest of its kind in the United States, with chapters in over 60 cities. In 1992, Jennings was cochair of the education committee of the Massachusetts Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and he served as principal author of the commission’s report, “Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth.” His books include “One Teacher in Ten: Gay and Lesbian Educators Tell Their Stories,” and the forthcoming “Telling Tales Out of School: Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People Remember Their School Years.” In 1992, he was named by Newsweek magazine’s “Century Club” as one of 100 people to watch in the next century.

Major investment firm CEO to present talk in SOM series “The Revolution in Corporate Leadership” is the title of a talk being given on Friday, Oct. 9, by Morton Meyerson, chair and chief executive officer of 2M Companies Inc. His talk will take place 10-11:30 a.m. in Rm. 114 of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, corner of Grove and Prospect streets. The event is part of the series “Leaders Forum: Perspectives on Leadership at the Yale School of Management.” Prior to becoming chair and chief executive officer of the private investment firm 2M Companies Inc., Meyerson held the same titles at the Texas-based Perot Systems Corporation (PSC), where he worked 1992-97. While he was at PSC, the company’s revenues grew from slightly over $100 million a year to over $960 million. Meyerson also had a long career at EDS, where he began working in 1966.

Scholar to assess welfare reform in Bush Center talk Douglas Besharov, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) in Washington, D.C., will give a talk titled “Welfare Reform After Two Years: Hassle or Building Character?” on Friday, Oct. 9, at noon in Rm. 119 of the Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St. The event is sponsored by the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy. Besharov, who is also a lawyer and professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs, was the first director of the U.S. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (from 1975-79). He began his career as an assistant corporation counsel for the City of New York, where he supervised cases involving juvenile delinquency, child abuse and neglect in the New York Family Court. He is the author or editor of 14 books, including “Recognizing Child Abuse: A Guide for the Concerned” and “When Drug Addicts Have Children: Reorienting Child Welfare’s Response.” For further information, call 432-9935.