June 15, 2011

Cooley Law School Professor Joins Panel on Pentagon Papers

Cooley Law School Associate Professor Devin Schindler participated recently in a seminar at Grand Valley State University on the lasting impact of "The Pentagon Papers" and the recent documentary, "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers."

The event, held at GVSU's Loosemore Auditorium, was particularly timely because on Monday, June 13, exactly 40 years after Ellsberg made history with his explosive leak of the Papers, the 7,000-page report was released in full by the National Archives. The Pentagon Papers was a secret government study that chronicled deception and misadventure in the U.S. conduct of the Vietnam War.

Ellsberg, at the time a Pentagon employee, spirited out highlights of the Pentagon Papers, which were published in the New York Times on June 13, 1971, in one of the most epic whistle-blowing events in U.S. history.

Participating with Schindler on the panel, which was held at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, was Ellsberg, via Skype; as well as Gleaves Whitney, director of the Grand Valley State University Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies, and former U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra. Schindler, a constitutional law and First Amendment expert, has been a member of the Cooley Law School faculty since 2007.

Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the nation.  Founded in 1972, the private, non-profit law school operates J.D. programs across Michigan in Lansing, Auburn Hills, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. Today, Cooley Law School has more than 15,000 graduates across the nation and worldwide and also offers joint degree and master of laws programs. Cooley offers enrollment three times a year; in January, May and September. Additional information about Cooley can be found at cooley.edu.