The University Law School’s Wayne Morse Center kicks off its series on current international trends tonight with a visit from Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., at 7 p.m.
DeFazio, who has been a consistent and vocal critic of the Bush administration’s war on terrorism, will speak to students and community members on subjects ranging from preemption to the new War Powers Act. These subjects are framed within the Morse Center?s larger two year theme, ‘Changing Geopolitical Order,’ and closely parallel the ideas of the late Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, a historic dissenter for whom the center was founded in 1981.
The Morse Center hopes to attract both University students and members of the community to the talk, which is scheduled to last 30 minutes and will be followed by an extensive question and answer session.
“Discussing the War Powers Act and Congress sounds like an academic exercise, but it really does have importance for Oregonians and citizens of the world,” DeFazio spokeswoman Kristi Greco said.
Greco said a major priority for DeFazio is to stay connected with the Eugene community and the Fourth District as a whole.
“Congressman DeFazio tries to inspire folks to continue to interact with their local government,” Greco said. “This event is a unique opportunity because Wayne Morse is a major political hero of the congressman?s on issues of war and peace.”
Morse, who represented Oregon in the U.S. Senate from 1944 to 1968, was an outspoken opponent of involvement overseas, and was one of only two opposing votes on the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which signaled the beginning of the Vietnam War.
DeFazio continues Morse’s tradition in the House today with a consistent record of anti-war voting and appeals to the Bush administration to limit the current conflicts.
“DeFazio’s is not the majority viewpoint in Congress,” said University law student Cheri Brooks, who is the communications coordinator for the Morse Center. “The Morse Center was set up as a way to highlight the ideal of independent thinking. That?s why Congressman DeFazio is so appropriate.”
The Morse Center decided on geopolitical change as the 2003-2004 theme a year before the beginning of the war in Iraq. In the past two years, however, the topic?s relevance has grown.
“We are very pleased with the importance of the theme given the situation today,” said Morse Center Interim Director Caroline Forell said. “Things have changed significantly since Sept. 11. We have fought two wars and are an occupying power, any American should be interested in seeing that we do things right.”
Greco agreed.
“I think this can have a chilling effect on you and I ? ordinary people,” she said.
While DeFazio may be an ideal candidate to kick off the theme of geopolitical change for the Center, his speech tonight is only the beginning. The ideas behind the congressman?s speech will be further explored in a series of events that will continue throughout the year.
In November, the Center will host Professor Richard Falk, an expert in global and international relations from Princeton University. Other upcoming events include a forum on democracy and human rights in Latin America and an international film screening.
According to law student and Morse Center fellow Karren Ellis, the overall goal of these projects is “to attempt to educate the Eugene public and University Students.”
“We really would like to see a lot of people turn out,” said Ellis. “Our theme is so current and it is just a small piece of so much change and ideas that are going on in the world today.”
Tonight?s event will be held in Room 175 of the Law School Building, located on the corner of 15th Avenue and Agate Street. Admission is free and open to members of the community as well as all University students.
Andrew Shipley is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald.