BY
Conference weighs roots, future of Kashmir
A symposium on the Kashmir Conflict entitled “From the Precipice of War to the Path of Peace” was held on March 17 in the Ames Courtroom.
The symposium, co-sponsored by HLS’s Graduate Program and the Human Rights Program, as well as the Islamic Legal Studies Program, was a part of the joint paper written by Zubair Chattha LL.M. ’01, who is from Pakistan, and Sidharath Garoo LL.M. ’01, who is from India. Though both Chattha and Garoo hail from rival countries in the dispute, they are writing a joint paper on the controversial Kashmir issue. The situation has been identified as the single most important stumbling block in the development of good relations between these two neighboring countries.
The one-day symposium dealt with different aspects of the more than 50 year conflict – including three wars – between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. The conference brought together speakers not only from India and Pakistan but also from the disputed region of Kashmir, making it unique in that respect. This included a separatist leader from the Valley of Kashmir, Yasin Malik, who is currently the chairman of a separatist organization called the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front.
Some of the prominent speakers who participated in the symposium included: Prof. Robert Wirsing of the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (U.S.A.); Prof. Hasan Askari Rizvi of the University of Punjab (Pakistan); Stephen P. Cohen, a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institute; Prof. Sumantra Bose of the London School of Economics and Political Science (U.K.); and Micheal Krepon, President Emeritus of the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington, D.C.
Roe ’75 tapped for tenured teaching post
On Tuesday, March 13, Dean Clark ’72 named Mark J. Roe ’75 to the tenured position of Professor of Law at Harvard. Roe, who had been visiting from Columbia Law School, specializes in corporate finance and authored a 1994 book entitled “Strong Managers, Weak Owners: The Political Roots of American Corporate Finance.” Of the appointment, Roe said: “It’s nice, 25 years later, to return to Harvard Law School, this time on the other side of the classroom’s lectern.” In a press release, Clark called Roe “a truly extraordinary scholar.” Clark added, “Our students will benefit immensely from his 20 years of teaching experience and his legal expertise.”
Before going to teach at Columbia in 1988, Roe taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and at the Rutgers University School of Law. His appointment officially begins on July 1.
Alumns set their sights on political positions
Joel Wachs ’64, currently a city councilman in Los Angeles, has announced that he will run for the city’s top job after current Mayor Richard Riordan’s term ends. Wachs hopes to reform the spending of taxpayers’ money. An independent who was formerly a Republican, he has been particularly critical of taxpayer subsidies for construction of the Staples Center. Wachs, who earned an LL.M. from N.Y.U. in tax law, entered public service in 1971 after finding that he was dissatisfied with the law.
“I didn’t really enjoy the law that much – spending all that time saving rich people’s money,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I really wanted to do something more in the public interest.”
Mark R. Warner ’80 announced last Thursday that he was launching his campaign for governor of Virginia. The Democrat, a telecommunications multimillionaire, plans to run on a platform of ensuring economic development throughout the state. Although Warner is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination, he will face an uphill battle in a state where Republicans control both houses of the General Assembly and all statewide elected offices. In 1996 Warner spent $10 million of his own money in a failed attempt at ousting Senator John Warner from his seat.