It is my pleasure to welcome you to the third annual Rudolph C. Barnes Sr. Symposium at the Law School. The Barnes Symposium presents a unique opportunity to bring together the Law School and cross campus academic communities with scholars, practitioners and policy makers from around the world. Sponsored by the Law School, the Barnes Symposium provides a forum to engage in serious academic inquiry on pressing issues of law and morality understood in the broadest sense.

This year's Barnes Symposium, Legitimacy and Western & Non-Western Views of Human Rights, will examine the overlap between religious and human rights views in Western and other societies. It looks at general theoretical difference, as well as regional characteristics (Asia, Africa, America and the Islamic world). The US is focused primarily on civil and political rights, while most of the world arguably is more focused on economic and social rights. What does this mean in terms of legitimacy and how do others view America as human rights advocate? How should lawyers interprete the on-going dispute in the US Supreme Court concerning the use of foreign human rights precedents in US constitutional litigation?

I hope you will join us at the Law School for a stimulating examination of these issues by prominent scholars and practitioners. Moreover, the proceedings will be shared live with overseas universities in the Southeast Asian part of the Islamic world where the Law School has operated projects since 2000. For a broader and lasting contribution, the proceedings are also being recorded and will be posted in streaming form on this website for future reference and academic use.

I look forward to seeing you at the Law School Feb 3rd and 4th.

Philip T. Lacy