Westminster Town Hall Forum

Sol Gordon is professor emeritus of Syracuse University's Institute for Family Research and Education, which he founded in 1970 and where he served as director until 1985. During his career as a clinical psychologist and sex educator, he has written over 100 articles and 15 books on adolescent sexuality, including Raising a Child Conservatively in a Sexually Permissive World. With a special sensitivity to the needs of young people, he maintains that promoting self-esteem is the key to responsible sexual decision making.

Lawrence Graham is a graduate of Princeton University and is now attending Harvard Law School. He is the author of several books, and he hosts a cable television show.

Ellen Goodman is an author and Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist who writes about the women's movement, politics, and the challenges of our times.

Lani Guinier is a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Formerly Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, she became a household name when her nomination as Assistant U.S. Attorney General was withdrawn by President Clinton. Her primary objective for the year ahead is developing support for a White House conference on civil rights that would be modeled on the White House Economic Summit. "I would like to see something where people come and testify to their own experiences, where the conversation is really a forum for telling the stories of discrimination, and for allowing people an opportunity to hear those whose perspective they don't share."

Claire Gaudiani - In Pursuit Of A Civil Society - 09/14/95 by westminsterforum

Rajmohan Gandhi - Today's Lost Certainties - 10/05/95 by westminsterforum

Roger Fisher - Iran- What Next? - TBA by westminsterforum

Douglas Edwards has been a broadcaster and journalist since 1948. He is an anchor for award-winning news programs on both radio and television.

Michael DeBakey - Ethical Issues In Cardiovascular Disease - 03/26/87 by westminsterforum

Michael Doris - Rewriting American History - 12/03/92 by westminsterforum

Faith Daniels - Violence Against Women - 07/11/91 by westminsterforum

Frederick Buechner - - 05/18/88 by westminsterforum

Emilio Castro - The Unknown Christ - 04/10/97 by westminsterforum

Jesse Allen - Women On The Front Lines- Meeting The Challenge Of An Aging America - 04/26/93 by westminsterforum

Jonathan Kozol has devoted nearly 25 years to issues of education and social justice. His book Death at an Early Age described his first year as a teacher in the Boston public schools and received the National Book Award in 1986. He later focused on adult literacy, and his subsequent book, Illiterate America, looked at the consequences of having nearly a quarter of the U. S. population unable to read. His most recent work, Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America, portrays the daily struggle of families living in New York City's welfare shelters.

Ernest Boyer is the president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is the former U.S. Commissioner of Education and a former Chancellor of the State University of New York. He is the author of two books, High School and College: The Undergraduate Experience. He is currently working on a policy study on education in children's early years.

Helen Caldicott is the national president of Physicians for Social Responsibility. She is a pediatrician at the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at Boston Children's Hospital and a former faculty member at Harvard Medical School. She is the author of Nuclear Madness: What You Can Do, and one of the foremost leaders in the anti-nuclear movement.

Isabel Allende is one of Latin America's most celebrated writers and the author of three international bestsellers, The House of Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, and Eva Luna. Born in Lima, Peru, and raised in Chile, she is the niece and goddaughter of Salvador Allende who was the president of Chile until a bloody coup in 1973 took his life. Forced to flee her homeland, Ms. Allende resettled in Venezuela with her family. In 1981, she learned that her beloved grandfather in Chile was dying, and she began a long letter to him, reassuring him that he would always remain in her memories. The letter, which was never sent, grew to become her first novel, The House of Spirits, the saga of three generations of the Trueba family in Chile.

James Comer is a psychiatrist, social scientist, activist and educator. He is a Professor of Child Psychiatry and Director of the School Development Program at Yale University's Child Study Center. Identified as one of the key leaders at the forefront of reforming troubled urban schools, he has gained national prominence for his success in improving the academic performance of high-risk children in the New Haven public schools. In 1990, his work was recognized by the Rockefeller Foundation with an award of $15 million to encourage the widespread adoption of his pioneering method for educating at-risk students.

Jill Conway is a scholar, author, and professor in the fields of history, education, and women's studies. Born in New South Wales, Australia, she received a B. A. from the University of Sydney and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. She was president of Smith College from 1975 to 1985, and since 1985, she has been a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to numerous articles, she has published two books, including The First Generation of American Women Graduates.