Boston College Front Row

"There have been more prosecutions for leaks in the first two years of the Obama administration than there have been in all previous presidencies combined," says Gabriel Schoenfeld, author of the recent Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law. While the Constitution protects freedom of speech and of the press, Schoenfeld argues, transparency sometimes conflicts with the Constitutional expectation that government "provide for our common defense."

Mark Warren, associate professor of education at Harvard University and author of Fire in the Heart: How White Activists Embrace Racial Justice, examines the factors that motivate white Americans to take up the cause of racial justice and how the current generation of activists is addressing "passivity in the face of continued inequality and injustice."

"Education transforms lives," says Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, tracing his journey from "broken" schools on Chicago's South Side, to Milton Academy, to Harvard University and Harvard Law. Belief in the power of education imbues Massachusetts history, says Patrick. He discusses education's dwindling resources and escalating challenges.

Bill Cain, SJ, a 1970 Boston College graduate and award-winning playwright and screenwriter, discusses his career with Robert Ver Eecke, SJ. Fr. Cain's most recent work, Equivocation, was produced off-Broadway in early 2010 at the Manhattan Theater Club's New York City Center. Cain is the founder of the Boston Shakespeare Company where he was artistic director for seven seasons.

Sir Harold Kroto, the Francis Eppes Professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at Florida State University, discusses a variety of topics relating to chemistry and his career in the field. Kroto is one of the three recipients to share the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Karen Meneses, RN, FAAN, MS '80, PhD '92, associate dean for Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing, talks about her research aimed atmaking a meaningful difference in the lives of breast cancer survivors.

Richard J. Sklba, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, delivers the keynote address at an international conference organized by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning to explore the historical periods in which Jews and Christians lived together harmoniously.

Susannah Heschel, the Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, addresses the theme of her 2008 book, The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany. Kevin Spicer, C.S.C., associate professor of history at Stonehill College, supplements Heschel's remarks with a discussion of several German theologians who attempted to adapt Catholic teachings to National Socialism during the Nazi regime.

At a colloquium held by the Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology Department of the Lynch School of Education, Michelle Fine discusses research regarding disadvantaged youth and the justice system. Fine is Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Urban Education, and Women's Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

James Fleming, SJ, MA'83 is the director of mission planning and ministry at the Office of University Mission and Ministry. He presents a last lecture comments about what he findsmost important and essential aboutthe place of spirit in learning at a Jesuit institution.

Sachiko Murata and William Chittick are professors of religious studies at Stony Brook University. Murata presents a lecture titledThe Neo-Confucian Sympathies of Chinese Muslims, followed Chittick, who discusses the Sufi influence of Chinese Muslim thought.

Milton scholar Barbara Lewalski, the William R. Keenan Professor of English at Harvard University, presents a paper titledMilton and the World of God: Issues of Interpretation in the Bible and in Paradise Lost.

Alan Schoenfeld, who holds the Elizabeth and Edward Conner Chair in Education at the University of California, Berkeley, talks about his research into building mathematical models of the actions people take and the decisions they make while performing routine tasks.

Robert Maryks is on the faculty of the City University of New York's Lehman College Department of History, and is author of The Jesuit Order as a Synagogue of Jews: Jesuits of Jewish Ancestry and Purity-of-Blood Laws in the Early Society of Jesus (2009). In his lecture he discusses his book, whichtells the story of the evolution of the discriminatory concept of purity of blood, its complex nature, its magnitude in the early Society of Jesus and the role Christians of Jewish ancestry played in the order.

James J. Conn, SJ, is a part-time faculty member of the School of Theology. He discusses the role of pastoral ministers in approaching the marriages of Catholics with non-Catholics.

Aaron David Miller, public policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Shai Feldman, professor of politics and director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University; and Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, discuss the relationship between the U.S. and Israel. Ali Banuazizi, professor of political science and director of the Islamic Civilization and Societies Program at Boston College, leads the panel. In addition to the sponsors listed below, the following organizations also sponsored this event: Al-Noor, the University's undergraduate journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies; the Boston College Coalition for Israel; the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Student Association; and Hillel of Boston College.

Since the Council of Constantinople in 381, the Church has been described asone, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Rev. Richard Lennan, professor of systematic theology in the School of Theology and Ministry, explores what it means for the Church to becatholic, and how we reconcile that proclamation with our contemporary experience of the Church.

A student of the history and political economy of the media, Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and president of Free Press, a national media reform organization. He describes the decline of independent journalism in the United States, and suggests that more public resources be devoted to maintaining the free and unbiased news coverage that is essential to a democracy.