World Views Collide — Spirited Debate Draws Hundreds to Cooley's Annual Symposium

As the U.S. Senate continues the confirmation hearings for John Roberts Jr. to become Supreme Court chief justice, over 1,000 attendees gathered at Cooley Law School’s Lansing campus Tuesday for the 2005 Thomas M. Cooley Law Review annual symposium, entitled "World Views Collide," to hear some of the country’s most distinguished legal minds.

"As educators of law, we at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School are always hoping to have further discussion about the most crucial debates in today’s legal world," said Cooley Law School President Don LeDuc. "This year’s symposium is a great step in doing just that."

The symposium was held at Cooley’s Lansing campus in conjunction with Cooley’s Center for Ethics & Responsibility, and featured a spirited debate among renowned scholars and civil rights attorneys about issues involving church and state, including the public display of the Ten Commandments, faith-based initiatives and other vital constitutional issues related to the topic.

The Director of the Center for Ethics & Responsibility, Professor William Wagner, stated, "A world view grounded in sincerely held faith-based beliefs, has dramatically different moral and policy implications than a world view founded in secular humanism. We welcome the opportunity to provide a public forum for differing views to debate contemporary policy questions such as the public display of the Ten Commandments and publicly funded faith-based initiatives."

The distinguished panel included:
* David Friedman – Lead counsel in the United States Supreme Count case McCreary County vs. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky
* Marvin Olasky, Ph.D – Professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and the editor-in-chief of WORLD, a national weekly news magazine written from a biblical perspective
* Nadine Strossen – Currently serving as the first woman president of the A.C.L.U. and professor of law at the New York School of Law
* Jeffery Ventrella – Senior Vice President of Strategic Training at the Alliance Defense Fund. The Alliance Defense Fund has participated in numerous matters before the United States Supreme Court in connection with the protection of religious liberties

Founded in 1972, Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the country. Cooley has three campuses across Michigan; its main campus in downtown Lansing, its downtown Grand Rapids/Western Michigan University campus in west Michigan, and its Rochester/Oakland University campus in southeast Michigan. In addition to the J.D. program, students at Cooley can also pursue an LL.M. in Tax or in Intellectual Property. Find out more about Cooley Law School by visiting the Cooley Web site at www.cooley.edu.