Winter Term Attracts Talented Visiting Faculty

Author: Chelsea Coffin

Middlebury College welcomes well over two dozen visiting professors in nearly every subject offered this Winter Term. Coming from as far away as Berlin and Moscow to as close as the College's home state of Vermont, these professors bring with them an abundance of outside experience and perspective. Be it Kerry Skiffington's fieldwork with women in Scotland and the Czech Republic, or Marie AgnËs Combesque's work with Amnesty International, these professors have done remarkable things and are here to share their experiences with students this winter. You might find yourself listening to voices as varied as those of Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Bill McKibben or University of Washington Ph.D. candidate Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse.

Washington D.C.-based attorney Kenneth Feinberg also joins the ranks of visiting faculty this Winter Term.

Feinberg's Winter Term Class, "The Bill of Rights in Historical Perspective," examines how the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution during times of crisis.

Feinberg received his bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1967 and his law degree from New York University School of Law in 1970. Since then, he has become one of the nation's leading experts in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. According to a press release, he served as mediator and arbitrator in Agent Orange litigation, the code name for an herbicide developed for military use in the Vietnam War. He also represented 450,000 women in a breast implant case. The Feinberg Group, of which he is managing partner and founder, has offices in Washington, D. C., and New York City.

In the wake of Sept. 11, Congress granted Feinberg a fund with full power to reimburse the families of Sept 11 victims. This move is regarded as exceptional by the U.S. government because it far surpasses all previous payments made to victims of attack, even in cases such as Pearl Harbor and the Oklahoma City bombings. Feinburg will conclude his service when the fund expires in Dec. 2003. He has worked to develop regulations regarding its management, spread all public information and oversee personnel.

In the wake of Sept. 11, Congress granted Feinberg a fund with full power to reimburse the families of Sept. 11 victims. This move is regarded as exceptional by the U.S. government because it far surpasses all previous payments made to victims of attack, even in cases such as Pearl Harbor and the Oklahoma City bombings. Feinberg will conclude his service when the fund expires in December 2003. He has worked to develop regulations regarding its management, spread all public information and oversee personnel.

Feinberg's recent achievements and honors include being one of three arbitrators selected to determine the fair market value of the original Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, service on a number of commissions and panels and the publication of numerous articles and essays.

He was listed in the April 1994 and June 2000 issues of the national law journal "Profiles in Power: The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America."

Feinberg's class will focus on such historical crises as the American Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, the McCarthy Era, the Civil Rights Revolution, the Vietnam War and others to examine how the Bill of Rights, and particularly the freedoms of speech, religion and association, have been interpreted.

He will also be giving a free lecture titled "The September 11 Fund: Lessons Learned" on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. in Room 216 of Bicentennial Hall.

Another visiting professor of interest this Winter Term is Michael Palmer, a conflict resolution instructor. Palmer, a Vermont based lawyer, is an expert on the lessons of peaceful negotiation taught at the Harvard Negotiation Project. Those lessons became well-known with the publication of the best-selling book "Getting To Yes."

Palmer was fortunate enough to study with the author of "Getting To Yes", Roger Fisher, in 1991. Since then, Palmer has taught work-shops throughout New England and the Midwest on the Harvard Method of Mediation to groups of lawyers, brokers and bankers.

Palmer's Winter Term class, Conflict Resolution, is of particular interest to students hoping to become teachers in the future because Palmer teaches how to install conflict negotiation techniques in schools.

Because of the nature of conflict resolution, the class is very interactive.

Students engage in role--play negotiations that range from a dispute between a sports agent and a general manager to a conflict between friends.