February 14, 2003

Death Penalty Series To Be Analyzed At Chancellor's Breakfast

Bill Schlotter

Is capital punishment a stain on the collective American soul? Or is it a just and proper tool for protecting citizens and their society?

Guests will hear about a UC Santa Barbara series that is teaching students to examine such questions at a UCSB Affiliates Chancellor's Breakfast, Friday, February 21 at 7:30 a.m. at the Cabrillo Pavilion Arts Center, 1118 East Cabrillo Boulevard, Santa Barbara.

Tickets are $10. Advance registration is required and can be made by calling the UCSB Office of Community Relations at 893-4388. The breakfast is sponsored by the UCSB Affiliates and Chancellor Henry Yang.

"Executing Justice: America and the Death Penalty" is a series of events to explore the death penalty in the United States from a variety of perspectives. The series, supported by a Critical Issues in America grant, runs winter and spring quarters and includes classes, lectures, a public debate, films and art projects. The series' finale will be an international conference on the death penalty hosted by UCSB in April and will include talks by former boxer and exonerated prison inmate Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and anti death-penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking." The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center administers the series.

IHC director Dick Hebdige will speak to breakfast guests about the goals of the series.

"I am going to talk about the implications of thinking about the death penalty from a broad human standpoint," Hebdige said. "It's a way of introducing students to ways of responding to basic questions."

The series will integrate undergraduate teaching and public programming in an interdisciplinary approach that will bring perspectives on the death penalty from legal studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, history, literature, and art and film studies.

The series was designed by Juliet Williams, an assistant professor of law and society, who will discuss legal aspects of the death penalty, including Supreme Court decisions that banned it in 1972 and reinstated it in 1976.

About UC Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.