Haiti Teach In USF Campus 4/19 12 - 7 250 McClaren!

Today, April 19, 2010, the University of San Francisco and its School of Law are hosting a community teach-in about Haiti, providing the context in which the quake occurred, the response to date and ideas for action. Noon to 7 on the USF campus in McClaren 250. Here is the program and my opening remarks. It should be spectacular.

Program:

University of San Francisco - Haiti Teach-In

Monday, April 19, 2010: Noon - 7

12:00 – 12:05 Welcome, Dean Jeffrey S. Brand, USF School of Law

12:05 – 12:20 Welcome Address by USF President Stephen A. Privett, S.J.

12:20 – 1:15 First-Hand Accounts (USF Professor Lois Lorentzen, moderator)

· Walter Riley, civil rights attorney and chair of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

· Doug Sovern, KCBS radio reporter

· Judith Faustin-Gabriel, Novato-Horeb Haitian Seventh Day Adventist Church

1:15 - 2:15 Cultural, Political, Religious and Historical Context (Jeff Brand, moderator)

· Brian Concannon, director, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti and chair, Lawyer’s Earthquake Response Network

· Pierre Labossiere, cofounder, Haiti Action Committee and boardmember, Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

· James Taylor, professor of politics, University of San Francisco

2:15 – 2:25 Break

2:25 – 5:25 The Response

· 2:25 – 3:25: Humanitarian Aid (USF Law Professor Dede Donovan, moderator)

o Anne Bartlett, professor of sociology, University of San Francisco

o Annie Blackstone, U.S. director, Sion Fonds, an NGO working in Haiti

o Mariam Danielyan, USF law student

o Pamela Keenan, resource development coordinator, What If? Foundation

· 3:30 – 4:25: Medical (Dean Judy Karshmer, USF School of Nursing, moderator)

o Dr. Barbara Newman, emergency medical physician

o Jeanne Krafft, registered nurse and activist with Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos

o Enna Trevathan, professor, USF School of Nursing and nurse manager, VA Palo Alto Hospital

o Especianise Loresca, Haitian medical student

· 4:30 – 5:25: Legal (USF Law Professor Bill Hing, moderator)

o Brian Concannon, director, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti and chair, Lawyer’s Earthquake Response Network

o Margaret O’Shea, senior associate, DPK Consulting

o Karen Musalo, clinical professor and director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, UC Hastings College of the Law

o Richard Boswell, professor and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic, UC Hastings College of the Law

o Holly Cooper, lecturer and associate director, Immigration Law Clinic, UC Davis School of Law

5:30 – 6 or 6:15 Student Projects (All together on the stage if possible)

· School of Law (Nicole Phillips, IDJH, moderator)

o Anthony Phillips on Haiti's debt to France

o David Smart on Haiti's onerous debt to international financial institutions

o Jeff Kaloustian on economic and social rights of Haitians in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

o Dana Isaac on her experience preparing Temporary Protected Status immigration applications for Haitians during a spring break project in Miami

· Undergraduate Students (Moderator to be designated, Margaret or Donal?)

o Students Kalie Patterson, Anna Tull, and Alia Al-Sharif on their Haiti relief bingo fundraiser, which raised more than $18,000 for relief efforts

6:00 or 6:15 – 7:00 or 7:15 Reception and music: Kalbass Kreeyol

Opening Remarks

I am Jeff Brand, Dean of the USF School of Law, and proud to welcome you to the University of San Francisco and our Haiti Campus Community Teach-In. First things first. As you can surmise from the program, today’s symposium has been a huge undertaking. We all owe deep gratitude to the organizing committee, particularly USF’s Vice President for University Life, Margaret Higgins, Professor Lois Lorentzen, University Director of Media Relations Anne Marie Devine and Law School Communications Director Angie Davis. And of course a special thank you to all of our presenters.

A word about the schedule: To paraphrase a great blues line, too many knowledgeable people and too little time. Thus, we will keep the program moving to make sure that we receive the full benefit of the knowledge of all of the incredible folks with us today. And despite, the seriousness of the topic, we will end the day’s proceeding on a note of hope with a reception and music provided by the Haitian Creole band, Kalboss Kreeyol. We hope that you can stay for everything.

On Tuesday January 12 at 4:52 P.M. Haitian time a 7.0 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter 16 miles of west of Port Au Prince wreaked havoc in Haiti. Within a week with at least 52 aftershocks registering 4.5 or greater continued to shake Haiti, leaving an estimated 230,000 dead, 300,000 injured, and 1,000,000 homeless. 250,000 homes and more than 30,000 commercial buildings lay in ruble. Among those killed were Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot,^[12] and opposition leader Micha Gaillard.^[13][14] The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi.

To be sure, over the next seven hours, 35 or so students, doctors, nurses, lawyers, activists, journalists, and professors will bear witness to the unspeakable tragedy resulting from the earthquake. The biographies and work of these talented and committed individuals are in the summary provided to you.

The goals of today’s proceedings, however, are far broader than merely reporting on the horrors that we witnessed on our television screens for weeks following the quake. Today we seek to understand the historical, cultural, political and religious context in which the ground shook as well as the response that the quake continues to engender and the challenges that the response faces. Perhaps most critically we bring together people who have been involved in Haiti-related work long before the quake to consider courses of action to address Haiti’s immediate and long term needs. Indeed, it is no accident that we have chosen the title Teach-In for today’s gathering – we as a community gather today to educate ourselves about Haiti’s past and present with an eye to justice for a country which for too long has been ravaged by world economic and military policies and not just a 7.0 earthquake. So today, individuals from law schools and Universities, from NGOs with names like the Haiti Action Committee, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, the What If? Foundation, and Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos come together to help us accomplish that goal.

I would be remiss if I did not say how proud I am that this teach-in is being held on this campus where our mission of Educating Minds and Hearts to Change the World drives our work. The evidence of the impact of that eloquent and powerful mission is evident at the law school where students seek to fashion a more humane and just world traveling to Geneva to advocate for human rights, to Phnom Penh to work on war crimes issues,to the south to fight the death penalty, to the fields of California to work with migrants and as close as the Tenderloin to lend a hand to the homeless.

The ardor for our mission at USF is underpinned by the Jesuit values of excellence and service, and galvanized by the eloquent, passionate and principled leadership for the past decade of our President Father Stephen A. Privett. Steve, we appreciate your unwavering support of all that we seek to do at USF in the pursuit of justice – this symposium being but one example. It is my pleasure to introduce the President of the University of San Francisco, Father Privett.