"Interrupting Oppression and Sustaining Justice" was inspired by the publication of Morton Deutsch's paper, "Oppression and Conflict," and the responses to it, said Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Associate Director at ICCCR. Morton Deutsch, who is the E.L. Thorndike Professor Emeritus of Psychology & Education and Director Emeritus of ICCCR, will open the conference by presenting a summary of the paper. The schedule of presentations, panel discussions, and break-out meetings will take place via a four-part framework during the conference: Economics and Work; Politics and Law; Culture and Media; and Education, Community, and Family.

Summations of thematically related papers will be presented at the conference by other notable scholars, including Henry Levin, the William H. Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education at TC; Jennifer Hochschild of Harvard University; TC's Maxine Greene; and Milton Schwebel of Rutgers University. Scheduled conference panelists include K.C. Wagner of the Labor Institute; Bell Gale Chevigny of the PEN Prison Writing Project; NYC Councilman Robert Jackson, and Jon Snyder, Dean of Bank Street College of Education.

The 75 to 80 invited attendees will include graduate students who plan to use the occasion to engage in collaborative writing, Fisher-Yoshida said. Those writings, inspired by the papers and summaries presented at the conference, as well as planned group discussions, will eventually become chapters in a book about overcoming oppression to be published by ICCCR. In addition, conference proceedings on the 27th will end with a dance/spoken word performance, "Reflections on Brown v. Board of Education, 50 Years Later."

Published Friday, Sep. 3, 2004