Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker Will Speak at ABA National Forum on Civility

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 24, 2012 — Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker is scheduled to participate in a national dialogue about civility on Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark. The event, “Free Expression, Civility and Personal Attack in a Constitutional Democracy,” is sponsored by the American Bar Association’s Division for Public Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The program will begin with students from the New Jersey Law and Education Empowerment Project participating in a debate on whether school officials should be allowed to censor critical student speech, and they will examine policies that explicitly prohibit personal attacks on school officials. The debate competition will be followed by a panel discussion on the issue of civility in political discourse. Mayor Booker will speak at and facilitate a question-and-answer-style session following the panel discussion.

Who:
The ABA’s Division for Public Education and the National
Endowment for the Humanities

What:
Panel discussion, student debate and Q&A on civility

When:
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.  (Mayor Cory Booker to speak at 1 p.m.)

Where:
Seton Hall University School of Law
One Newark Center
Newark, N.J. 07102

This event is free and open to members of the press. For media credentialing, please email Betsy.Adeboyejo@americanbar.org.

This program is one of various events taking place around the country as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Bridging Cultures initiative; its effort with the ABA is known as “Civility and Free Expression in a Constitutional Democracy — A National Dialogue.” The ABA has partnered with organizations in nine states to conduct 13 public programs on civility in cities nationwide between September 2012 and June 2013. Each program will explore the balance between civility and constitutional democracy, and contribute to a national dialogue on the topic. Resources about civility and how you can be part of the dialogue are available here.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.