01-30-04

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY LECTURE SERIES QUESTIONS: 'IS THE BILL OF RIGHTS IN JEOPARDY?'

AMES, IA -- Iowa State University's Lectures Program opens its 2004 Institute on National Affairs at 8 p.m. on Feb. 2with a talk by National Rifle Association President Kayne Robinson. Robinson is the first of six speakers who willexamine threats to the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the constitution adopted as a unit in 1791).

The Institute on National Affairs continues through March 8. All events are free and held in the Memorial Union SunRoom.

Robinson, who also is a former Des Moines assistant police chief, will share the NRA's perspective on early amendmentsto the U.S. Constitution.

Other lectures in the series include:
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 8 p.m.
"The Patriot Act in Iowa"
Charles Larson Sr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District; Stephen O'Meara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District;Ben Stone, executive director, Iowa Civil Liberties Union; and moderator Barbara Mack, ISU Greenlee School ofJournalism and Communication, will discuss the impact of anti-terrorism legislation in Iowa.

Thursday, Feb. 5, 8 p.m.
"Is the Bill of Rights in Jeopardy?"
Keynote lecture by Nadine Strossen, professor at the New York School of Law and president of the American CivilLiberties Union. Strossen has twice been named one of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America" by the National LawJournal. She is the author of "Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex and the Fight for Women's Rights" and "Speakingof Race, Speaking of Sex: Hate Speech, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties."

Thursday, Feb. 12, 8 p.m.
"One Nation Under God? Where to Separate Church From State"
A lecture by Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Washington,D.C.

Monday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.
"The Right to Religious Liberty"
Congressman Steve King, Iowa Fifth Congressional District, will speak.

Monday, March 8, 8 p.m.
"Name the Accuser and the Accused: Reconsidering the Coverage of Rape"
Geneva Overholser, University of Missouri School of Journalism, former editor of The Des Moines Register, and ombudsmanat The Washington Post, will discuss news coverage of rape. During Overholser's tenure at the Register, the newspaperwon a Pulitzer gold medal for public service for "It Couldn't Happen to Me," the story of one woman's experience withrape.

Additional speakers in the Institute on National Affairs may be announced.

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