Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 15, 2005|Volume 32, Number 26

Conference will consider future
of controversial Voting Rights Act

Leaders of national civil rights organizations will join with legal scholars, social scientists, historians and practitioners from across the country for "Lessons From the Past, Prospects for the Future: Honoring the 40th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965," a conference being held at Yale Thursday-Saturday, April 21-23.

The conference will evaluate the historical need for the Voting Rights Act as well as contemporary barriers to achieving full voting rights. The event is sponsored by the Center for the Study of American Politics with support from Yale's Law School and Department of Political Science.

Since its inception, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 has become one of the most influential -- and controversial -- acts in recent political history. Although originally intended to promote greater access for African Americans, the VRA and its subsequent extensions have opened up the electoral process to other marginalized groups such as the poor, Latinos, Native Americans and language minorities.

The timing of the conference is critical, say the organizers, given that key provisions of the VRA will be up for renewal in 2007.

"This conference will help stimulate a national dialogue concerning the status of voting rights in this country," says Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, assistant professor of political science and African American studies at Yale and faculty chair for the conference.

"Participants will address the historical barriers to full democracy while providing insight into the contemporary obstacles facing the most vulnerable members of our communities.

"We firmly believe that protecting the franchise is an important means of connecting the principle with the practice of democracy in this country," she adds. "This conference provides an amazing opportunity for us to understand the totality of voting."

Participants include Theodore Shaw, director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Laughlin McDonald, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project; Professor Pamela Karlan of the Stanford Law School; Julia Fernandes of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Janine Pease, a leading advocate for Native American voting rights; and voting rights scholars such as Professors Chandler Davidson and Alexander Keyssar.

Panel sessions will address issues such as voting rights for Washington, D.C., residents, criminal disenfranchisement laws, redistricting and reauthorization, and contemporary barriers to full voting rights such as spoiled ballots.

The conference is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. The full conference schedule and speakers' information is available at www.yale.edu/polisci/info/conferences/VRA/index.htm.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Team uses lasers to control specially modified fruit flies

Financial aid increased for Ph.D. students

Exhibits recount Yale's history and the contributions of its alumni

Visitor Center enjoys pride-of-place as it showcases Yale

Event will bring together staff, students to help city groups

Kim Bottomly has been named as a deputy provost . . .

Zedillo appointed envoy to U.N.'s summer summit

Yale undergraduates make impressive showing in . . .

Cycle of August Wilson plays to conclude with 'Radio Golf'

Next Yale Rep season features new plays . . .

Monthly injections of naltrexone in combination with therapy . . .

Researchers identify a protein in the kidney that regulates . . .

Conference pays tribute to ethicist Margaret Farley

Panel and exhibit mark 30th anniversary of fall of Saigon

Event honors individuals who have contributed to women's health

Conference will consider future of controversial Voting Rights Act

Culture and community

Event highlights new research on AIDS

YALE CANCER CENTER NEWS

World-renowned researcher Foss to join staff

Student's internship earns her accolades in Westinghouse contest