Dan Rather to visit Press Club

CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather will be talking about the state of journalism and the current coverage of the war on terrorism at GW-sponsored “The Kalb Report” Oct. 9 at the National Press Club.

Bob Ludwig, assistant director of University Relations and producer of the event, called Rather the “dean of network news anchors.” Ludwig said the audience can expect an honest opinion from Rather, who is in his 21st year anchoring “CBS Evening News.”

The event is the first in a seven-part series called “Journalism in the Crossroads.”

In 1994, then-visiting professor of journalism Marvin Kalb and Vice-President for Communications Michael Freedman established “The Kalb Report” to discuss issues of the press with prominent journalists. The 2001 series is underwritten by a grant from the Knight Foundation, an organization that promotes high standards of journalism and free press.

Originally invited to discuss the role of television in America, Rather will talk about how long television newsrooms will be able to maintain “full-blown” coverage of the war on terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Free tickets are available at the Marvin Center Ticketmaster for the 8 p.m. event. The program will also be broadcast at a later date on television.

–Joe Pollak

Law School to hold class

The GW Law School will hold classes Thursday, Friday and Tuesday while all other GW classes remain closed.

The Law School had previously followed suit with GW’s decision to shut down because of safety concerns from protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings. Once the meetings were cancelled, the University granted the school greater flexibility to open its doors.

“The Law School has a slightly different situation than the rest of the University,” Law School Dean Michael Young said.

The American Bar Association, as well as individual state bar associations, impose strict requirements on law students for class-time hours. This enables all students to take the bar exam equally, Young said. If class is missed, hours must be made up exactly.

The Law School, which has about 1,500 students, decided that faculty could determine whether to hold class after consulting their students.

“Most students at the Law School support the decision to hold classes during those days,” said Philip Tahtakran, president of the Student Bar Association.

“We confirmed that most students were planning to remain or had flexible plans,” said Roger Transgrud, senior associate dean of academic affairs for the Law School.

Although most law students have their own apartments, some live on three floors of Francis Scott Key Hall. Some made irreversible travel plans after the University told them their building would close for the IMF and World Bank meetings.

The Law School has several accommodations for students who are unable to attend class.

“We are videotaping classes for students with travel plans,” Young said. “And a quality microphone system is already installed in classrooms that produces good tapes.”

–Amanda Mantone

MPA professors discuss attacks

Sixty-five students gathered in the basement of the Media and Public Affairs building Monday night to discuss the Sept. 11 attacks.

Teachers from the journalism and political communications departments hosted the event, including Steve Roberts, Carl Stern, Steve Livingston and Janet Steele.

Roberts said the attacks marked students’ first encounter with death and destruction in their own country.

“This is a political earthquake, altering the assumptions of your world,” Roberts said.

Livingston offered insight into what will happen now and a warning about policy makers rushing to decisions that will change stable laws of America.

“If you don’t want to let terrorism win, don’t, for God’s sake, throw out things like the Constitution,” Livingston said.

Janet Steele gave a brief synopsis on the point of view of others outside of America, based on her experience living in Indonesia – a Muslim country – for the past few years.

“People are with us to an extent, but maybe not completely,” she said.

–Shilo Groover