Events: Project Dialogue | Division of Student Life

All Events begin at 7pm unless otherwise noted. Parking for events in the new Student Life Center is available after 5:00 p.m. in Zone 3, Lot 18, and in the Central Garage off 25th Ave. South. See the parking map for more information.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005, at 7 p.m.

Film Series: Dead Man Walking, Introduction to Topic. Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Scott Turow, Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty

Scott Turow, is an attorney and an author. Mr. Turow's first book, One L, about his experience as a first-year student at Harvard Law School, was published in 1977. Ten years later, he achieved a life-long ambition, with the publication of his first novel, Presumed Innocent, followed by The Burden of Proof and Pleading Guilty. His fourth novel, The Laws of Our Fathers, was published in 1996. Personal Injuries was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in October, 1999 and Reversible Errors was published in November 2002 (also by Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Mr. Turow's books have been translated into more than 25 languages and, in total, have sold approximately twenty-five million copies worldwide. They have won a number of literary awards. His latest book, Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty, was published on October 1, 2003.

Mr. Turow continues to work as an attorney. He is a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, a national law firm with 600 lawyers. Mr. Turow's practice centers on white collar criminal litigation. Mr. Turow devotes a substantial part of his practice now to pro bono work, including representations in cases involving the death penalty. In one of these matters, Alejandro Hernandez, co-defendant of Rolando Cruz, was exonerated after 11 years in prison.

Mr. Turow continues to work as an attorney. He is a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Scott Turow was born on April 12, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated with high honors from Amherst College in 1970. That year, he received an Edith Mirrielees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which he attended from 1970-72. From 1972 to 1975, Mr. Turow taught Creative Writing at Stanford, as E.H. Jones Lecturer. In 1975, he entered Harvard Law School, graduating with honors in 1978. From 1978 to 1986, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago. He was one of the prosecutors in the trial of Illinois Attorney General William J. Scott, who was convicted of tax fraud. Mr. Turow was also lead government counsel in a number of the trials connected to Operation Greylord, a federal investigation of corruption in the Illinois judiciary. Mr. Turow has been active in a number of charitable causes, including Literacy Chicago. In 1997-98, he served as president of the Authors Guild, which is the national membership organization for professional writers, and continues to serve on its governing board. He is a Trustee of Amherst College.

Mr. Turow continues to work as an attorney. He is a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Mr. Turow has been appointed to a number of public bodies. He is currently a member of Illinois' Executive Ethics Commission regulating executive branch employees. From 2002-2004, he served as Chair of the Illinois State Appellate Defender's Commission, which oversees the state agency which represents indigent criminal defendants in their appeals. He served as one of the fourteen members of the Commission appointed in March, 2000, by Illinois Governor George Ryan to consider reform of the capital punishment system; the Commission was appointed after Governor Ryan declared a Moratorium on executions and delivered its report in April 2002. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Turow was a member of the Illinois State Police Merit Board, which determines matters of hiring, promotion and discipline for members of the Illinois State Police. He also has served in 1997 and 1998 on the United States Senate Nominations Commission for the Northern District of Illinois, which recommended appointment of federal judges.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005, at 7 p.m.

Film Series: Mr. Death, in conjunction with the Holocaust Lecture Series*. Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema.

Tuesday, November 1, 2005, at 7 p.m.

Film Series: The Life of David Gale, Exploring Wrongful Convictions. Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema.

(2003) Dir. Alan Parker. Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet. When anti-death penalty activist David Gale is convicted and condemned to death for the murder of a colleague, reporter Bitsey Bloom sets out to learn the story behind Gale's crime. She finds her belief in Gales's guilt and in the justice system challenged. 130 min.

Tuesday, November 8, 2005, at 7 p.m.

Film Series: ThanatosRx., A non-partisan examination of the many facets of the death penalty by forensic psychologist, Dr. Maryanne Galvin.

Thursday, November 10, 2005, at 7 p.m.

Nina Totenberg, The Supreme Court and its Impact on You

New Student Life Center Ballroom, 7:00 p.m. Michael Moore, State Solicitor General, will introduce Ms Totenberg. Also there will be special recognition of WPLN (Nashville Public Radio) employees.

Nina Totenberg is National Public Radio's award-winning legal affairs correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR's critically acclaimed newsmagazines, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition. She is also a correspondent for ABC's Nightline and a regular panelist on Inside Washington, a weekly syndicated public affairs television program produced in the nation's capital.

Totenberg's coverage of the Supreme Court and legal affairs has won her widespread recognition. Newsweek says, "The mainstays (of NPR) are Morning Edition and All Things Considered, but the creme de la creme is Nina Totenberg." She is the recipient of numerous awards for her reporting, including the Broadcaster of the Year and the 1998 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcasting from the National Press Foundation. She is the first radio journalist to receive the award.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Vanderbilt students will visit Riverbend Maximum Security Prison, Unit 2, Death Row. We will visit the facilities and have a behind the scenes look at life on Death Row. There will be a discussion with inmate Abu Ali Abdur' Rahman about his experiences on Death Row. Due to the very limited spaces available, an application is required.

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Film Series: In Cold Blood, Popular Culture and Murder. Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema. 7 p.m.

(1967) Dir. Richard Brooks. Robert Blake, Scott Wilson. Two men break into a farmer's home only to find that there is no money at the home and murder the entire family to avoid identification. Taken from the actual events chronicled by Truman Capote's book. Coincides with the 46th anniversary of the Clutter murders and the 40th anniversary of the book that gave birth to the crime novel genre. 134 min.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005, at 7 p.m.

Film Series: The Farm, The Inmate Experience. Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema.

(1994) Dir. Liz Garbus, Wilbert Rideau, Jonathan Stack. Documentary depicting day-to-day life in Angola Prison from an inmate's perspective. The filmmakers interview several inmates including one with a life sentence who is about to die. 88 min.

December 15, 2005 - January 31, 2006

*Note: Reception on Thursday, January 26 prior to the Douglas Lecture.

In association with the * Innocence Project, Sarratt Gallery in collaboration with Vanderbilt's Project Dialogue displays the famed exhibit of the faces and voices of the wrongfully convicted. Simon's portraits lay bare the paradox of innocence and imprisonment, the inability to recover the years stolen from these men and women, and the states' unconscionable refusal to compensate or ease traumatic transition to civilian life. The images further the discussion on a new civil rights movement for equal justice and provide an opportunity to determine what went wrong, how to fix it, and how to help these survivors heal.

* The Innocence Project at the Benjamin J. Cardoza School of Law at Yeshiva University, founded by Peter Neufeld and Barry Sheck in 1992, is a nonprofit legal clinic and criminal justice resource center. They work to exonerate the wrongfully convicted through post-conviction DNA testing, and develop and implement reforms to prevent wrongful convictions.

January 17, 2006, at 7 p.m.

A gang of teenage girls, stifled by the crushing piety of their elders, dance naked in the woods. One girl, Abigail Williams -- her innocence lost in the bed of John Proctor, a married farmer -- drinks a charm to kill his wife.

And suddenly, the Devil is loose in Salem. The girls are discovered and, spurred on by their terrified accusations, the entire village is consumed by cries of witchcraft. One by one, the blameless victims of mass hysteria are torn from their homes until, inexorably, Abigail's vengeance is turned on Proctor's wife. 124 minutes

Thursday, January 26, 2006

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John Douglas, Founder of the F.B.I.'s Investigative Support Unit & legendary profiler

He hunted some of the most notorious and sadistic criminals of our time: the Trailside Killer in San Francisco, the Atlanta child murderer, the Tylenol poisoner, the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly ended his own life.

He developed the first psychological profile of the Unabomber, but found the F.B.I. wary of his pioneering techniques. His aggressive plan of action was ignored.

He confronted, interviewed, and studied dozens of serial killers and assassins - including Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) and James Earl Ray - for a landmark study, to understand their motives and motivations, to get inside their minds.

He is able to become both predator and prey. He examines crime scenes and creates profiles of the perpetrators, describing their habits and predicting their next moves. Ultimately, when his work has helped snare the criminals, he can help build strategy for interrogating and prosecuting them.

He is former Special Agent John Douglas, a legendary figure in law enforcement and the model for the Scott Glenn character in The Silence of the Lambs . (He was also the original choice to play the role.) As founder and chief of the F.B.I.'s Investigative Support Unit - the team that tackles the most baffling and senseless of unsolved violent crimes - Douglas is the man who ushered in a new age in behavioral science and criminal profiling. Now, after 25 years of service, he has retired and can finally tell his unique and compelling story.

Expanding on his national bestsellers, Obsession , Mind Hunter and Unabomber: On the Trail of America?s Most Wanted Serial Killer (all co-authored with Mark Olshaker), Douglas's lecture program delivers a fascinating inside look at some of the most intriguing criminal cases of our time. Also the author of The Anatomy of Motive and The Cases that Haunt Us , Douglas?s most recent work is Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet (co-authored with Stephen Singular). The book explores the chilling personality behind the Internet's first serial killer. A cautionary look at the dark new world of cybercrime, The Washington Post called Anyone You Want Me to Be "riveting."

Drawing from his long and extraordinary career, Douglas takes us inside the cat-and-mouse struggle between his elite squad of investigators and a chilling rogues gallery of perpetrators, a sort of surreal chess game with life-and-death consequences. Along the way, he also shows us how understanding the minds and motives of your opponents can influence success in any arena.

Over his 25-year career with the F.B.I., Douglas aided police departments and prosecutors from around the world. With several television series based on his exploits, he is one of the most dynamic personalities to emerge in modern law enforcement. In addition to providing pro bono assistance to police and victims of violent crimes, Douglas hosts a crime analysis radio show called "The Mindhunter" each week on the #1-rated talk radio station in the country, KFI-640 AM.

As a high-profile expert, Douglas provided consultation in the O.J. Simpson civil case and the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation. He is the author of numerous articles and has done countless presentations on criminology. He also authored the landmark books Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives and Motives and Crime Classification Manual . A veteran of the Air Force, Douglas holds a Doctor of Education degree. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Founded in 1981 by a group of renegade theatre artists, The Actors' Gang continues its dedication to creating bold, original works for the stage and daring reinterpretations of the classics. The Exonerated proves no different as a riveting Actors' Gang staging examines capital punishment and the justice system in chilling terms. Following a Columbia University conference on the death penalty writers/directors Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen were moved to action after interviewing 40 of (then) death row prisoners and families. The Exonerated is about the innocence of people and illuminates the realities of the way our justice system works while teaching us about our human capacities for cruelty and compassion.

Langford Auditorium -Parking

Located in the Vanderbilt Medical Center near the corner of Garland and 22nd Ave. South.Recommended Parking for Langford Auditorium:

Monday, February 13, 2006, Ingram Hall, 8 p.m.

Tickets are required. Free to Vanderbilt students, faculty & staff, $20 for community members and are available only at the Sarratt Box Office on the Vanderbilt campus.

*This program is co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Law School and the Office of Leadership Development and Intercultural Affairs*

As Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration, Mr. Ashcroft has been credited with overseeing an historic era of safety and security for our country in the wake of the tragic events of September 11th.

Under his watch, the Justice Department focused on its number one priority: preventing another terrorist attack . Mr. Ashcroft led the Department in initiating a tough anti-terrorism campaign that has assisted in disrupting numerous terrorist plots worldwide, dismantling terrorist cells in many cities across America, and convicting nearly 200 individuals associated with terrorism-related investigations to date.

In addition to his focus on national security, Mr. Ashcroft lead the Department in taking criminals off the street, reducing gun crime, targeting illegal drugs, and protecting civil rights so no American felt outside the protection of the law.

Violent crime has dropped to a 30-year low as the Department has employed tough laws and tough penalties against criminals who have victimized the innocent. The Department has implemented President Bush's Project Safe Neighborhoods' initiative, increasing federal gun prosecutions by 68%. The war on drugs has been reinvigorated and the country is celebrating record lows in student drug use while government seizures of heroin have doubled in two years.

The Justice Department also developed the government's first ban on racial profiling by federal law enforcement, successfully resolved decades-long civil rights investigations, and worked to bring communities together in a way that respects the rights of all Americans. At the direction of President Bush, the Department established the Corporate Fraud Task Force to restore integrity to the marketplace by cracking down on companies and corporate executives who abused the trust of their employees and investors.

Mr. Ashcroft's career of public service began in 1973 when he became Missouri Auditor; he was later elected to two terms as Missouri's Attorney General.

His service to the state of Missouri continued when he assumed the position of Governor in 1985 (through 1993). As Governor, he spearheaded the state's efforts in reducing the use of illegal drugs and balancing eight consecutive budgets. He also served as Chairman of the Education Commission of the States.

Fortune magazine rated John Ashcroft one of the �Top Ten Education Governors,� and Financial World and City and State magazines credited him with making Missouri one of the best financially managed states.

Mr. Ashcroft was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, where he worked to combat illegal drugs, increase the quality of public education, reduce crime and safeguard the rights of crime victims. He also co-sponsored the re-authorization of the Violence against Women Act, and fought to toughen penalties for gun crimes.

Prior to entering public service, Mr. Ashcroft taught business law at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. He authored a book honoring his father, Lessons from a Father to His Son , and co-authored multiple editions of two college law textbooks with his wife, Janet.

The Ashcrofts have three children: Martha (Mrs. James Patterson), John and Andrew, and one grandchild, Jimmy Patterson.

For statistics and opinion of Ashcroft's Death Penalty record, click the link below:

Tuesday, February 21, 2006, 6 p.m.*

Panel begins at 7:30 p.m.

Film Series: Aileen Wournos: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, The Inmate Experience. Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema. Rated R

(2003) Nick Broomfield's second documentary on Aileen Carol Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was executed in 2002 for killing seven men in the state of Florida. This second installment includes the filmmaker's testimony at Wournous's trial. 89 minutes.

(a panel discussion will follow the film consisting of murder victim's family members in a roundtable about the death penalty).

Participating in the panel discussion will be: Bonnie DeShields (family member of Robert Glen Coe), Regina Hockett and Verna Wyatt, Executive Director of "You Have the Power." Each panelist has lost a family member by either illegal murder or state-sanctioned death.

Film Series: Monster, The Inmate Experience. Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema.

Charlize Theron stars as Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was executed in Florida for killing seven men during the 1980s; Christina Ricci plays her girlfriend, Selby Wall; and Bruce Dern is cast as her friend Thomas, who tries to protect her in the end. 111 minutes.

Prior to the showing, Director John Hale will provide notes regarding the film.

This riveting documentary, narrated by Danny Glover, draws viewers into the public fight to stop the execution of Joe Amrine, a Missouri man on death row for 17 years for a prison murder, despite there being neither witnesses nor evidence against him.

This documentary traces advocate efforts to save Joe's life; the production and exhibition of Unreasonable Doubt: The Joe Amrine Story (a video documentary about Joe's case, trial, and torturous limbo); the public relations battle to attract attention to Joe's plight; and the precedent-setting Supreme Court case that resulted from the admirable efforts of an excellent and conscientious defense team.

Influenced by �Thin Blue Line� (Errol Morris) with cinema verite qualities of �Bowling for Columbine,� this documentary reveals the empowering potential of video, courageous legal representation, and the truth.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006,7 p.m.

Film Series: The Green Mile, The Life Penalty. Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema.

The Green Mile -(1999) Paul Edgecomb's tour of duty as the head guard on Death Row at Cold Mountain in the Depression-era South included watch over a quartet of killers awaiting their final walk down "the Green Mile," the stretch of green linoleum flooring that took convicts from their jail cells to the electric chair. Over the years, Edgecomb walked the mile with a variety of cons. He had never before encountered someone like John Coffey, a massive black man convicted of brutally killing a pair of nine-year-old sisters. Coffey certainly had the size and strength to kill anyone, but his demeanor starkly contrasted with his appearance. Beyond his simple, naive nature and a deathly fear of the dark, Coffey seemed to possess a prodigious, supernatural gift. Edgecomb began to question whether Coffey was truly guilty of murdering the two girls. 189 minutes.

On January 3, 2002 Juan Melendez became the 24th person to be released from death row in the state of Florida, the 99th Nationwide ! Melendez spent 17 years on death row for a 1983 murder to which another man had repeatedly confessed -- evidence prosecutors withheld.

Juan Roberto Melendez-Colon spent seventeen years, eight months and one day on Florida's death row for a crime he did not commit. Upon his exoneration and release from death row on January 3, 2002, he became the 99th death row inmate in the country to be exonerated and released since 1973. There was no physical evidence ever linking Mr. Melendez to the crime and his conviction and death sentence hinged on the testimony of two questionable witnesses. Despite his innocence, Mr. Melendez's conviction and death sentence were upheld on appeal three times by the Florida Supreme Court. In September of 2000, sixteen years after Mr. Melendez was convicted and sentenced to death, a long-forgotten transcript of a taped confession by the real killer, was fortuitously discovered. Ultimately, it came to light that the real killer made statements to no less than sixteen individuals either directly confessing to the murder or stating that Mr. Melendez was not involved. In a seventy-two page opinion in which she overturned Mr. Melendez's conviction and death sentence and ordered a new trial, Judge Barbara Fleischer went to tremendous lengths to underscore the injustices that had been bestowed upon Mr. Melendez and to show that an innocent man was on death row. She chastised the prosecutor for withholding �crucial� evidence pertaining to the credibility of the State's two critical witnesses and she set forth in meticulous detail the �newly discovered evidence,� including numerous confessions and incriminating statements made by the real killer to friends, law enforcement officers, investigators and attorneys that substantiated the defense theory that Mr. Melendez was innocent. Without admitting any wrongdoing, the State of Florida declined to pursue a new trial against Mr. Melendez because one of its key witnesses had recanted and the other had died.

Upon his release from death row, without bitterness, anger or hatred towards those responsible for wrongfully convicting and sentencing him to death, Mr. Melendez has traveled throughout the United States speaking to audiences about his story of supreme injustice. When he is not speaking throughout the country, he works at home in Puerto Rico in a plantain field where he counsels troubled youth who work alongside him. As a former migrant farm worker, Mr. Melendez's idol and inspiration was and continues to be Cesar Chavez.

(*note earlier start time to accomodate panel discussion following the film)

Panelists for the evening include: Rabbi Alexis Berk, The Reverend Dr. William Buchanan and The Reverend Dr.Rubel Shelly.

Film Series: The Passion of the Christ, The Most Famous Execution (panel discussion will follow the film). Free and open to the public. Location is Sarratt Cinema.

The Passion of The Christ is a film about the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film opens in the Garden of Olives (Gethsemane) where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Jesus resists Satan's temptations. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus is arrested and taken back to within the city walls of Jerusalem where the leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death.

Jesus is brought before Pilate, the Roman Governor of Palestine, who listens to the accusations leveled at him by the Pharisees. Realizing he is confronting a political conflict, Pilate defers to King Herod in the matter. Herod returns Jesus to Pilate who gives the crowd a choice between Jesus and the criminal Barrabas. The crowd chooses to have Barrabas set free and to condemn Jesus.

Jesus is handed over to the Roman soldiers and flagellated. Unrecognizable now, he is brought back before Pilate, who presents him to the crowd as if to say �is this not enough?� It is not. Pilate washes his hands of the entire dilemma, ordering his men to do as the crowd wishes.

Jesus is presented with the cross and is ordered to carry it through the streets of Jerusalem all the way up to Golgotha. On Golgotha, Jesus is nailed to the cross and undergoes his last temptation - the fear that he has been abandoned by his Father. He overcomes his fear, looks at Mary, his Holy Mother, and makes the pronouncement which only she can fully understand, �it is accomplished.� He then dies: �into Thy hands I commend my Spirit.� At the moment of his death, nature itself overturns. 127 minutes

Project Dialogue Events